


Bill up a tree

by pastistoday



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alice in Wonderland, Gen, I think Bill being obsessed with the Chesh explains a lot, I'm Sorry, Kid Bill, Kid!Bill - Freeform, Kid!Bill Cipher, No Romance, School, The plot has arrived, spells, the twins have magic, what am I doing? lol idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastistoday/pseuds/pastistoday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The twins have been trying to get rid of Bill for nearly ten years and have finally realized that they can't. In a desperate attempt to make Bill at least a bit less of a threat they find a spell that will regress him into a childlike state from which they hope they can raise him again, to be a better person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. introduction

Bill get down here this instant!” Dipper shouted at the young boy who was half way up a large tree. The only response he got was a loud raspberry as the boy kept climbing. “Bill you can’t float in this body, come down!”

“Yeesh Pine tree you're bossy.” Bill laughed, the echo in his voice only slightly noticeable in his laugh.

“If you make me come up and get you I will drop you on your fat little head! Get down here!”

“Oxymoron!”

Dipper was ready to scream. Bill had been immature enough when he was an all-powerful demon with too many years to count but now that he was regressed to a child state he was almost unbearable. Over the last week he had driven Dipper nearly to his wits end. Though Mabel seemed to have gotten a handle on controlling the little monster the first day Dipper still hadn’t figured it out.

Now he had no idea what to do, should he stay below the tree to catch Bill if he fell or should he go up and get Bill before he had a chance to fall? Dipper yelped watching Bill start swinging from one of the high up branches.

“Bill you’re going to break it! You’ll hurt yourself stop it!”

“Good! Pain is hilarious!” Bill shouted back. Dipper grabbed a handful of his own hair, could he go get Mabel? What if Bill fell while he was gone, no he had to be here, why had Mabel had to go to her girlfriends house and leave Dipper alone with this little monster!? She had promised that the crafts she had left for the seven year old would keep him busy but they both should have known that Bill would do something like this if only just to any Dipper. Wait crafts that was it!

“If you don’t come this instant I will take away all you’re glitter!” Dipper said firmly pointing at the ground in the cartoonish way he never seemed to grow out of. Bill shrieked and went to let go of the branch to let himself fall, “Carefully!” Dipper shouted quickly “Come down carefully.” He could tell by the way Bill was grinning at him like the Cheshire cat that he was about to make a deal.

“Only if you’ll let me make the tree on your hat sparkly!” Bill demanded. Dipper face palmed angrily.

“What about I let you watch Alice in Wonderland again?” Dipper tried to wheedle, Bill had made both Mabel and Dipper sick of the movie his first three days he had been with them, now he wasn’t allowed to watch it because neither of them would watch it and he had been deemed to young to watch them alone. Bill seemed to think about it.

“Can I make my hair sparkly?” Bill said after a minute.

“As long as you don’t use any glue.” Dipper shrugged, it was Bill’ hair why would he care.

“Okay!” Bill yipped skittering down the trunk of the tree he grabbed the hem of Dippers vest and started to drag him back to the house.

“I love Alice in Wonderland! I want to be just like the Cheshire Cat!” Bill babbled for the hundredth time. “Do you think Mabs would make me a Cheshire sweater if I asked her nicely? I can’t do patterns very well yet and you keep taking my needles away from me.” Bill frowned up at Dipper but Dipper couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I’m sure she would, she loves any excuse to knit.” Already Bill was wearing a yellow sweater with a black eye and brick pattern like that of his old triangular form. As soon as they were inside Bill ran to get his craft supplies and plopped down on the floor in front of the tv staring up at Dipper with wide expectant eyes. Dipper set up the tv and put in the old VHS, it wasn’t the Disney version but some old made for tv movie that much more resembled the book.

In this one the Chesh was varying shades of gray rather than pink and purple which seemed to please Bill more. In fact when Mabel had rented the Disney one just to try and give them a change Bill had thrown pillows at the screen shrieking about what an ‘undignified colour scheme’ it was and they had had to turn off the movie. Once the movie was playing Dipper went back and flopped in Grunkle Stan’s old chair watching in amusement as Bill tied to comb gold sparkles through his hair with his fingers. 

Bill’s attention to the glitter didn’t last long though and soon he was as engrossed in the movie as if he was seeing it for the first time. Without even seeming to mean to Bill leaned back against Dippers leg, his mouth hanging open slightly and his almost yellow eyes wide with wonder and fixed on the screen as his favorite disappearing cat talked of madness. Dipper smiled down at the small demon, there were times when he wondered if this change had been worth it, after all Bill still got into a lot of trouble as a kid and it could be really annoying having to look after him. Still one thing that Dipper couldn’t deny was, Bill sure did make a cute kid.


	2. Realization

So how did this happen is started with a realization.

“He really is immortal.” Dipper said leaning back from the table covered in books, old scrolls, and notes. Mabel glanced up at him from the place on the floor where she was translating her skill with arts and crafts into protective runes. It had been almost nine years from the first time Bill had came to bother them and he was showing no signs of stopping. They had been trying just as long to get rid of him, but this was the conclusion, he had come to over and over again.

“But bro-bro we’ve found tons of things that can hurt him, like the runes and some of those spells you’ve gotten so good at.” Mabel protested. “There must be something we can do to him.”

“Ya there are tons of things, but none of them get rid of him for good. We could trap him, but Grunkle Stan already trapped him in Gravity Falls and doubling the spell cancels it. We could tie him inside a human body but since he wants one that would play right into his hands. We could trap him inside an object but the second it broke or got opened he would be back with a vengeance. And the rest of the options are even more useless!” Dipper hit his head on the desk, frustration.

“Well what are the options?” Mabel asked calmly. “Maybe they’re useful in a way that you haven’t seen yet.” She had a point, she saw things differently than Dipper did, maybe she would see how they could help.

“Most of the ones are really silly. There’s one that would exchange him with a different version from a different universe.”

“That might be useful.”

“Ya but it’s a lottery, we may get a better one but we may also get a worse one. One with fewer weaknesses or one that’s even more violent because Bill hasn’t actually killed anyone or anything. We might get one who does.”

“Good point, anything else?”

“There’s one that apparently regresses him into a childlike state one.” Mabel cut him off.

“What about the childlike state?”

“Ya it would make him act and think like a kid, I’m not sure about the age, somewhere between three and seven I think. But what good with that do? Then we’d just have a tiny all powerful demon destroying everything the first time someone says he can’t have any more ice cream.”

“Ya but what if we coupled that with the spell that would bind him into a human body? If we sealed away his powers then he could just be a normal kid!” Dipper stared at Mable like she was crazy tipping his chair back away from his desk. 

“Okay but then what would we do with him? That wouldn’t be permanent, I mean he would grow up again.”

“Ya but, Dipper, think about it, kids are incredibly malleable, if he was a kid and thought he was a kid we could raise him to be better! If he was good with the powers that he has, he could be like a superhero!”

Dipper fell backwards out of his chair. Mabel caught his head before he could hit is against the hardwood floor, grinning down at his face. He couldn’t tell if he had fallen out of his chair in shock or excitement. Was it a good idea or the worst he had ever heard.

“Bill couldn’t be a hero.” He said not bothering to move, Mabel stayed still to hold his head.

“Why not? There has to be a reason why he’s so evil, maybe if he forgets it and makes some good memories he’ll be better.”

“Or maybe the reason is that he’s a DEMON Mabel! Have you ever heard of a demon being good?” Dipper asked flailing his arms.

“Demons are just powerful being, Dip-Dop, they don’t always have to be bad.” Mabel said and Dippers arms fell down by his sides.

“Where will we get a kids body?” He asked staring at the ceiling blankly. His mind already rushing through lists of things they would need and preparations to be made. 

“Does the body have to be alive?” Mabel asked. He could see the thoughts flipping through her head too, but he knew that they looked more like pages of a scrapbook pages flipping than lists.

“I don’t think so but it can’t have been dead long. I mean putting a soul back into the body should jump start it. Plus Bill wouldn’t be affected by any brain damage since he wouldn’t be relying on the brain that was actually in the body. But it wouldn’t reverse any muscle atrophy or decay. Maybe if the Body had been put on ice or something really quickly. Why?” He knew Mabel wasn’t planning to kill a kid.

“There was this kid that got into a car accident a couple of weeks ago. If he doesn’t wake up in the next three days they’re gonna pull the plug on him. It’s only really his brain that was damaged, and it’s not looking like he’ll wake up.”

“They’re not just going to let us take the body, Mabel.”

“No we’d have to steal it but it’s the greater good! And they couldn’t exactly find any proof that we stole a body since the only kid they’d be able to find would be living, breathing, and running around.”

“I guess you’re right.” Dipper said finally sitting up to reach for a piece of paper. Grimacing and throwing it away when he realized that both sides had already been written on. Mabel handed him a fresh one.

“There are a lot of things we’ll have to do to be ready in three days! The ingredients to this spell are really tough to find, Mabel, and you’ll have to work through at least one night to get all the runes done. We’ll have to ward the entire house, and then the room we’re conducting the spell in, and then a circle to hold him in. How will we keep his powers bound while he thinks he’s a kid? I need another piece of paper.” Mabel passed him one and he started making lists for each of them of the things they needed to do before the spells could be conducted.

“I’ll make a heavily runed bracelet. Like the ones kids with allergies wear? That wouldn’t look too out of place on a little kid and no one would question us putting it on him too tight for him to take off.” Dipper nodded distractedly and added that to the list of things for her to do erasing something else to make space for it, moving the erased objective to his own list.

“Neither of us are going to be getting much sleep for the next couple of nights. We’ll need to sleep the night before the spell though or we’ll be to tired to perform it.”

“I got you Bro-bro.” Mabel said moving closer so she could read Dippers' heavily regimented list. Most of the time she would get upset with him for being so managerial, she had often when they were kids about his lists thinking they were weird, but she had realized that there were times and places for lists and now was one of them. 

"Except, Dipper, you’re forgetting about meals. We both need to eat. You’ll be running around in the woods a lot looking for ingredients and magic runes take a lot of mental and spiritual strength. We will need to eat if we’re not going to be sleeping.

Dipper looked surprised and looked over his list, realizing that Mabel was right. He made a few alterations making breaks for meals. Mabel smiled, this is why they were 21 and still living together, they couldn’t be apart. Without Dipper, Mabel would never get anything done and probably rush into some stupid and dangerous scenario getting herself killed. Without her, Dipper would never stop working, he would never remember to eat or sleep let alone have any fun at all. They needed each other to be whole. Once the lists were done Dipper handed Mabels to her.

“Look it over, anything else I missed?” He asked already on his feet and bouncing. She knew as soon as she said no (which she would, Dipper hadn’t missed anything she had been watching as he wrote it.) he would be out the door and into the woods like a racehorse after the shot. She read over the list carefully making sure she understood everything she had to do while Dipper paced over to the desk and reread the spell checking it against his list, and his memory of Mabel's to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

“It looks fine.” Mabel said and Dipper was off, just as she had predicted. He grabbed the transcribed version on the journal he carried with him, he had long since stopped carrying the original one since Bill seemed to want it so badly. This one was written in a combination of Mabel and his secret language from when they were kids, Mabel’s scrapbooking pictograms, and the shorthand Dipper had developed for note taking in university. No one but the two of them could read all of it, if any of it. Shoving it into his backpack, he grabbed a knife that had been plated with silver and soaked in rose water, as well as a few other defensive weapons. He slipped on the wood bead necklace that Mabel had made him, words carved into each bead, and put it on before dashing out the door. Good, so at least he wasn’t excited enough to be to stupid.

Mabel watched him go, grinning and then set back to work. What room would be best for the spell? The attic? No, there was fire involved and there was too much wood. The study was a mess, she didn’t have the time to clean it and couldn’t work the runes around the mess. Dipper and her had cleaned up their Grunkle's secret lab after the portal incident. There were still areas of it that were a mess, but it was bigger than they had thought at first, and there were areas of it that would work. Good, there were no windows there either, no one would be able to see any weird magic light or smoke and come disturb the circles.

Gathering up her chalk, paint, permanent markers of all colours, and glitter she paused for a minute to glance back down at the list. This warding would take more than just drawing some marks, she would need special items. Red sharpie wouldn’t do, it had to be ground cinnamon, mixed into a paste with scented oils. She smiled going to her room to get her kit. She had most of these things. The ones she didn’t have she could call on Soos or Wendy to go pick up for her since she wouldn’t have time to go get them herself. She was looking forward to this spell more and more, from the look of all the ingredients it would smell amazing! None of the nasty powdered lambs blood she had to make paint out of for the wards around the porch.

Humming ,she dragged her (heavy) kit into the kitchen, took down a mortal and pestle, bowls, measuring cups and spoons, candles and heaters out of cupboards, and down from shelves. Better to get everything she could make first, rather than be half way though some ward that included a chant and have to break of due to a lack of lavender essence. Chanting wards usually had to be restarted when that happened and cleaning took time she didn’t have.

Wendy wandered into the kitchen while Mabel was working. A small pot was bubbling above a three-tiered candle smelling of, cinnamon, jasmine, rose and clove. It was a strange contrast to the thing Mabel was mixing which smelled of Lavender, lemon, Cucumber and rain. They mixed together making Wendy a little bit dizzy. The light and calming aromas of one mixing with the heady, warm and dramatic of the other and pulling her in two different directions.

“Oh there you are Wendy!” Mabel exclaimed unable to pause in her counterclockwise siring of the liquid that smelled like rain. “Do you think you could be in charge of dinner tonight? I don’t care if you order in or cook something but me and Dipper will be too busy.”

“Sure thing Mabel.” Wendy said her voice a little huskier than normal before she cleared it and went on. “What are you working on?”

“Me and Dipper are trying this really really big spell! Just a warning if we do it right there’s gonna be a kid running around here for a while after. Just act like he’s our nephew okay?”

“Okay.” Wendy said agreeably. She had long since stopped questioning all of the weird things that happened around the Pines family and now she just went with it. “I need to go home to cook for my brothers and dad. I’ll just make extra and bring dinner back okay?”

“Sounds good to me?” Mabel said grinning and nodding enthusiastically. “Will you send Soos into see me? Just shut down the shack early, I have a list of things I need him to buy. We’ll probably be closed for about the next four days unless you and him think you can manage the shack on your own?”

“I’m sure we can manage Mabs, maybe we’ll just do slightly shorter days if we have trouble.” Wendy assured Mabel. She and Dipper had been doing their best to run the place with help for Wendy and Soos and it was going well, but there were still kinks to work out. Particularly because both Mabel and Dipper had never quite stopped being a bit flighty. This wasn’t the first time they had chosen to close the shop to pursue something supernatural. Going back to the shop Wendy sat down behind the cash deciding to keep the place open for a bit longer as she sent Soos Mabels way. 

“What can I do for you boss Mabel?” Soos asked as he wondered into the kitchen leaning his broom against the wall.

“Soos perfect! I need you to take some money out of the emergency supernatural fund Dipper made us set up and go buy the things on that list.” She jabbed her wooden spoon at a list on the other side of the table before gently hitting the side of her metal bowl with the spoon. Tilting her head to listen intently to the ring it made.

While she did that Soos took the list and looked at it.

Things!

Spindle  
Un-dyed carded sheep’s wool  
Yellow dye  
More cinnamon sticks  
Cardinal feather (Not blue jay! Any other cardinal)  
Grey paint  
Grey cloth (3 yards should do)  
Mint extract  
Catnip  
Dove feather or feet or blood. Some part of a dove  
Gold, not much just a couple of nuggets or something, I don’t know where grunkle Stan hid his   
Childs bracelet, sliver (not sterling) with kid safe clasp.  
Fresh roses, organic, none of the spray on scent junk.  
Blue ribbon, thick enough for a blindfold, the most calming shade you can find

“I think that’s all I’m missing, but I might have to send you out again for more later okay? It looks like Dipper was right to set up the emergency fund.” Mable grinned at Soos, her now straight teeth shining.

“You got it boss.” Soos said saluting and ruffling Mabels hair before taking the list, the money, and his car keys, going to try and find the things on Mabels list. Like Wendy he had long since stopped questioning the strange things the Pines family did, he was just glad to be a part of it. He could already tell that this one was going to be big and he would help anyway he could.

In the woods Dipper got a text from Mabel. “DIPPER keep a eye out for Queen Ann’s Lace, violets, the squishiest green moss you can find and any snowdrops that are left.” Smiling Dipper sent back a “you got it” and kept looking for the ‘reality warping mushrooms that didn’t really warp reality only your perception of it’ the author was bad at names.

In the shadows one all seeing eye watched Dipped as he stomped through the forest, eyes fixed intently on the ground as he kicked over leaves looking for the mushroom. The eye didn’t know yet what Dipper and Mabel were planning yet but he knew that they were busy and intent and that was good enough reason to worry. But now was not the time to act against them, it was past time to act against them. Maybe even too late, they were becoming too good, too close to what he feared and Bill Cipher did not like to admit that he feared anything.


	3. The Spell

It took Soos a long time to find some of the things Mabel had asked him to, particularly the un-dyed carded wool. He had no idea where to get such a thing, but eventually he found it. When he got back, Dipper was just coming out of the forest with his backpack heavy enough that it was making him hunch.

“Hey there dude.” Soos said raising one hand smiling at Dipper, even though he was pretty sure Dipper wasn’t seeing him right now. He had that faraway look in his eye that meant he was only seeing the things he wanted to do in future.

“Ahh Soos, where have you been?” Dipper asked, still not looking at him.

“I was picking up some spelly type things for Mabel.” Soos told Dipper.

“Good, good.” Dipper said starting towards the house slipping through the door before Soos. “If you get the chance, please clean up me and Mabel's old room. There’s gonna be a kid living with us, starting in three days.”

“You got it dude.” Soos said saluting Dipper, even though Dipper didn’t look back to see it as he went up the stairs. Soos dropped off the bags in the kitchen where Mabel watched a potion closely. There was no fire under it, but it still bubbled, Soos couldn’t tell from her face if is was supposed to be doing that. “I got the stuff you wanted Mabs.” Soos told her.

“Thanks Soos.” Mabel said without looking up from the bubbling potion whose pot she was now poking softly.

“Dipper told me to clean your old room because there’s going to be a kid staying with us?”

“Yes, yes that’s fine I don’t need anything else right now.” Mabel said waving him away.

“Who’s the kid?” Soos asked curiously.

“That’s not important, starting three days from now he’ll be mine and Dippers nephew.” Mabel said, gently placing her hand around the pot and picked it up taking it over to the fridge. Mumbling grumpily as she opened the fridge with her foot and slid the pot in. Soos backed out of the room leaving Mabel to concentrate. Soos passed Dipper coming down again, on his way up to the attic room where the twins used to sleep.

“Mabel, where are we setting up the spell? These rocks are heavy!” Dipper said, putting down his bag with a thump to prove it. Mabel looked up and smiled at him.

“In the basement, but you better give me everything for potions while you're here. I already finished the two I could make with the ingredients we had. Ones cooling in the fridge now, though I think I’ll need dry ice to get it to the right temperature in the end. The other's still bubbling over there.” She waved towards the window that was open a little with the red potion over top of the three pronged beeswax candle. It was making the kitchen taste like sharp spices and sweetness.

“Alright is there anything else they need?” Dipper asked, lifting his bag up onto the table and taking things out of it. The mushrooms for one and some other things, like plants, a jar with a couple of yellow butterflies, and a small vial of something thick and red. “I couldn’t find one of the eye plants today, I’ll have to go further into the woods for them. Can that wait till after I place the stones or should I go out now?”

“That depends.” Mabel said grimacing at the vial of red, then at the butterflies. “If you go later you won’t make it before dark, can you handle the woods at night? You’ll have to take care of the butterflies by the way. They're too pretty for me to kill them.”

“You don’t have to kill them, just rip off their wings.” Dipper joked. Mabel grimaced at him, he chuckled. “Don’t worry I’ll do it and I’ll be as humane as I can with it."

"I can handle the woods at night. I’ll be able to go into the tunnels at the same time. Plus some of the stuff only comes out at night, that’s the only time the eye flowers open anyway because the light hurts them.”

“Okay bro-bro.” Mabel said glancing at the clock. “Wendy should be back with dinner soon anyway.” Dipper smiled and picked up his back again leaving the room to head to the basement.

“Don’t forget the potion in the fridge needs to be put on the roof as soon as the moon rises.” Dipper called over his shoulder before heading down to the basement to start placing the stones. He had a measuring tape with him, they had to be the same distance apart exactly, they were roughly the same size with quartz in them. The sides with the most quarts facing into the circle to reflect the worst of the power back inside. Otherwise they would bring down the house, maybe the town. It took him an hour and a half to make sure they were perfect. Once he was done he outlined them in marker precisely, so that if anyone disturbed them they could be put back exactly where they needed to be. Maybe he would steal Mabel's hot glue gun later and glue them to the floor so they really wouldn’t move.

“Dipper, dinner’s been here for a half hour it’s cold now.” Mabel called down to him.

“Okay I’ll be up in a minute, I’m almost done.” Dipper said adjusting the last rock a fraction of an inch, correcting the outline before heading upstairs. He hardly paid attention to the light outside. As soon as he was done he grabbed his backpack again and ran out.

Mabel and Wendy watched in amusement as Dipper gobbled down his food without looking and stumbled out. Shaking their heads and laughing at Dipper's way of only ever seeing the next thing he was going to do, instead of the thing he was on. He never lived in the moment at all, only the future. Well, and sometimes far in the past, that’s how he had gotten good at the sort of chanting magic’s that called for Greek, Latin or Gaelic.

“It looks like he’s too busy so Wendy do you think you could take a minute to prepare the butterflies for me? I mean you don’t have to, I don’t want to because the wings need to be detached and dried. So if you don’t want to I get it.”

“Can I kill them first at least?” Wendy asked, Mabel nodded. “Then sure dude, I can do that for ya.” Wendy said grinning and taking the jar off the table.

“Thanks, Wendy.” Mabel said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a star sticker and sticking it to the front of Wendy's shirt smiling. Wendy gave her a thumbs up before taking the jar and leaving the room.

Mabel dug through the bags Soos had brought till she found the kid’s bracelet and started to work the warding’s on it. She needed as much time as she could give to it because the symbols had to be carved into the metal, and silver was not a soft metal. She was so focused on it she almost didn’t notice when it got dark. She swore, grabbed the pot out of the fridge which had finally stopped bubbling, ran up to the attic, out onto to roof, and to the top of it, placing it just as the bright moon rose.

She breathed out in relief and slid back down roof going back in to add more rose water to the potion which needed to be kept hot until it was used. The longer that was the better, because more heat was infused into it. But it did mean that she had to keep adding liquid to it to keep it from boiling dry and actually burning.

The next two days were spent like that. Mabel hardly left the house and Dipper was hardly in the house for the first two days, and helped Mabel all of the third. There were so many circles and signs to be drawn, even though Dipper wasn’t as good at these drawings. But they were on a deadline, still Dipper only got half as many done as Mabel but there was still time. They left one symbol undone and the circle open, they would close it after them when they entered to do the final spell. Now all that was left was to sleep and then steal the body they needed in the early morning.

“They unplugged the kid today, but he’ll be better stored in a morgue than here.” Mabel said sighing.

“Roby’s parents won’t start preserving him tonight will they? I don’t think those chemicals would be good for him.” Dipper pointed out.

“I don’t think so, they go to bed really early. I think they would do it tomorrow when they start at seven tomorrow morning, we’ll go at like five.” Mabel said, she knew Roby and his parents better, so Dipper trusted her word.

“Don’t forget to set your alarm.” Dipper reminded her. He still knocked on her door right when they were both about to go to bed and she hadn’t done it, she did then and he already had.

The next morning when the poppy song blared out of his alarm he rolled out of bed hitting the ground hard to wake himself instantly. It worked, he sat up turning off the alarm. Wendy and Soos had the day off today as a thanks for the over time they had put in helping Mabel and Dipper get ready for this and so they wouldn’t get in the way. Dipper got dressed in all black and headed down to the kitchen, it was 4:15. He put on the coffee pot, he needed caffeine but he also put on the kettle for Mabel’s tea.

He knew how she liked it so it was already fixed when she came down. Immediately she picked it up and took a long sip before putting down and taking out both her and Dipper's favorite cereals. They ate in silence, Dipper drank two cups of coffee and Mabel had her tea and a small glance of Mabel Juice, then they left.

It was easier than they had expected to steal the body, this was a small town, apparently not even the morgue locked it’s doors. It took them a few tries to find the kid, but the drawers where the dead were stored were well oiled and didn’t make much sound. Mabel took the child in her arms, they left quickly after Dipper had double-checked there were no cameras that had seen them.

“You know he’s kinda cute.” Mabel said once they were in the car looking down at the boy who had light brown skin, large eyes and curly brown hair. His face was finely boned with high cheekbones and a sharp nose. “I think he’ll suit Bill just fine.”

“Yes Mabel, the dead kid we’re about to shove a demon into is adorable.” Dipper teased, Mabel elbowed him. When they got home Dipper took the body from Mabel, she opened the doors for him and closed them after them.

“I’ll erase the video footage for tonight in the morning.” Dipper said as they headed in to the basement, Mabel sealed the circles after them. They laid the body down in the middle of the final circle which was inside a tent made of grey cloth. The final circle had been drawn partially with the cinnamon sticks and partially with the cardinal feather. Nearby sat the potion that was supposed to be drunk. That would have to be done after the binding within the body, and before the regression because it would make the mind weak enough to allow regression.

“This part has to be done in blood doesn’t it?” Dipper asked and Mabel grimaced apologetically.

“Ugh fine.” They both cut the skin just inside their elbows in turn and let the blood drip into a bowl. Mabel took it and began to draw symbols over the child’s chest, wrists, and face. While she did that Dipper secured not only the silver bracelet Mabel had made, but a second one and a necklace made out of wooden beads on the child before tying down it’s unmoving limbs. Easier now than when Bill was in the body and making it fight.

“Are we ready?” Mabel asked as she finished the last symbol. Dipper looked around checking they had everything. It was too late to check the exterior wards once more, the circle couldn’t be broken.

“Yes.” Dipper said assuredly.

“Then start your chanting oh great funny talker.” Mabel said making Dipper laugh, Mabel could always make him laugh no matter how serious the situation was. She stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled again then took a deep breath and began the chanting. This spell was Latin, good, he hadn’t gotten a handle on the Gaelic accent yet. He could feel the power building around him and inside his lungs pressing them out, but he didn’t let himself stop. Keeping a steady rhythm and count, breathing out the power at any chance he got to keep it from popping his lungs.

The body of the child started glowing gold and doing it’s best to levitate, though the restraints prevented it. The tent seemed larger. More like the mindscape than ever, drawing Bill in, making this seem inviting, like home, like the place he needed to be. Bill resisted for longer thn Dipper had expected. He was wondering if he would have to do the chant twice when something that looked almost like a gold comet came shooting through. None of the wards were meant to keep things out, only in. Within moments Bill was in the body and trapped.

“Well well well, Pine tree, Shooting star. Who knew the two of you had the nerve for something like this.” Bill taunted as soon as the body had jerked and inhaled it’s first deep breath. It’s eyes snapped open, brown for a second before turning gold. 

“Now why don’t you let me out of this ring and I might call it even and not destroy you for this foolish attempt. After all I did want a body, though this one's too small to be useful right now, it’ll grow in the blink of an eye for me.” Bill smirked in a way that did not suit the childs face.

Dipper ignored him transferring seamlessly into a different chant. Mabel grabbed the will softening drink they had made stepping carefully into the circle she knelt down next to Bill.

“Now open up for the steam boat, there’s a good kid.” She said her lips curling in a way Mabel would have been disgusted with when she was twelve. Dipped grinned, Bill had driven them to be like this, it was good to see it directed at the cause. Bill sapped his mouth shut but Mabel pinched his nose, he resisted longer than a human would of. Even he couldn’t ignore the body's need to breath forever and it only meant that when he did open his mouth to breath, it was a big gasp. Mabel shoved the lip of the glass into his mouth as he was closing it again, tilting it so that the liquid poured into Bills mouth. Bill tried to turn his head, his yellow eyes wide. Mabel let go of his nose, and grabbed his chin keeping his head in place easily and giving Bill no choice but to swallow.

Dipper didn’t pause in his chanting as he walked around the tent clockwise, hanging up dream catchers, yellow butterflies wings and a few of the many teeth Bill had given them over the years. As he did this Mabel stepped out of the circle reaching for the wool she had carefully dyed yellow earlier and the gold painted drop spindle. Carefully she began to spin, weaving all the things she thought of as Bill into the thread, everything she knew about him and the time he had lived. Dipped did the same as he walked the clockwise circle. Once everything was hung up he walked the circle one more time, winding the power he had summoned with the chant tighter, drawing Bills power into the vortex he created as he did the circle one more time, practically jogging. 

Mabel gave a wordless yelp and Dipper knew she was finished her spinning. Any actual words outside the circle besides the ones of Dipper's chant would break the spell. Bill was yelling his head off but Dipper wasn’t listening, the final circle around him was meant to keep that from interfering. Knowing Mabel was done, Dipper turned on time, reversing the vortex of power he had made, interrupting it, dispersing it. At the same time Mabel began to let her thread unwind itself, undoing everything about Bill she had wound into the thread. Dipper did the same dispersing the power, first on his first to circles and then taking down all the items he had hung up. He threw them into the cold potion Mabel had made, watching them sink calmly under the surface of the potion as they did under the surface of Bills mind. 

Mabel’s drop spindle fell as the last of the wool unwound, she grabbed it and dumped it into the potion as well. Bill screamed, there was a bellow of power that washed off of him, ruffling Mabel and Dipper’s hair and then everything was still. Dipper breathed heavily, it had been hard to keep his breath enough to chant during the final part of the spell. His lungs felt about to burst. He clutched his chest and bent over wheezing.

“Did it work?” Mabel asked rubbing Dippers back gently watching the still body of the child Bill as he breathed softly.

“I don’t know.” Dipper gasped. “But I think we’d better clean him up and put him to bed because if he waked up like this it probably won’t do any good, even if it did work. I doubt he would trust us after that, it looks like we were trying to make him into a cult sacrifice.” Mabel laughed.

“Alright I’ll do that. You start cleaning this up okay? Maybe we should leave some of the more general warding circles. I’m sure this is not the last magic working we’ll do down here.”

“Good idea, but most of this stuff has got to go. Maybe we can use some of the grey cloth for curtains in his room.” Dipper suggested as Mabel stepped over the circle and began to untie Bill. 

“Good idea, Dipper.” Mabel said, smiling at her twin as he scuffed his foot through the circle to break it and started to take down the tent. Folding it and putting it aside.

“I bury this thing right?” Dipper said pointing at the pile they had dumped all the things representing memory into.

“Yep" Mabel said. "Somewhere we can be as sure as possible it won’t get dug up. The past should stay buried but that should happen in the dark, if we can, not even a moon.” Dipper nodded and put the pot aside so he could start washing away the circles.

Mabel carried to boy out gently up to the washroom where she used a cloth and warm water go gently wash away the blood markings that she had made on him to draw Bill in. She hummed softly while she did it, lullabys. If she was going to be a mother to this kid she might as well start now. Mabel smiled, she had always wanted to be a mom anyway, though she would have never guessed it would be to Bill. Laughing softly she dressed the boy in some of Dipper's of pjs she had washed. They were old and faded but soft. Then she tucked him into bed.

On the nightstand was already a cup of now cool tea she had made with chamomile, catnip, hops, oat grass, lavender, lemon and saint johns wart, as well as a few other little things. Very carefully she sat the boy up and made him drink it little by little being careful he didn’t choke. Hopefully this would make sure that when Bill woke up he would be in a calm and trusting mood, instead of panicked that he couldn’t remember and distrustful of the people around him. After an hour or so Dipper came up to join her rolling down his sleeves. His hands still red from the hot water he must have used to clean the basement floor. 

He stood behind Mabel and watched Bill with her waiting for him to wake up. It wasn’t long after that, maybe he felt them watching him.

“What?” he asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes, for all the world like a child that had just woken up from a long nap.

“Hey kid how do you feel?” Dipper asked softly.

“You really had us worried for a little while there sweetie.” Mabel said smiling at the confused little boy as he looked around them.

“What happened?” Bill asked.

“You got pretty sick.” Mabel told him frowning and resting her hand on Bill’s forehead. “Your fever seems to be gone but how do you feel?”

“Tired.” Bill said looking at her with big eyes still more gold than brown. “And dizzy. I don’t remember you.” He sounded apologetic.

“That’s fine Bill. I’m your aunt Mabel, this is my brother, your uncle Dipper. You hadn’t been staying with us long before you got sick and you didn’t know us well before that. It makes sense that you might not remember us after an ordeal like that. Are you hungry? Can I make you something to eat or maybe just some tea?” Mabel asked comfortingly.

“I am hungry.” Bill said looking at her his eyes still wide. “But I don’t really want to be alone, I feel like I have something to be scared of.” 

“Don’t worry kid I’ll stay with you.” Dipper said and Bill nodded. Mabel got up and left to get Bill something to eat. “Why don’t I read you a story?” Dipper asked. Bill nodded laying back on the bed clutching one of Mabel’s old stuffed animals as Dipper picked out three books for Bill to choose from. He chose Oh the Places You’ll Go! By Doctor Seuss, it looked like the spell had worked like a charm.


	4. First Day

By the time Wendy and Soos came back to work the next day the aftermath of the spell had been cleaned up. The potion was buried, and the newly humanized Bill was settled in. He still wasn’t at his full level of energy but that was probably because he still wasn’t sure of his place in the house. Dipper was sure that once Bill was comfortable he would be just as much of a brat as he could be before just a smaller one.

As soon as Wendy got to the shack her eyes zeroed in on Bill, who was sitting on a tall stool behind the counter with Dipper as Mabel lead a tour. Dipper wasn’t surprised. Wendy loved kids, she had to with as many little brothers as she had and still pay attention to Dipper and Mabel as she had when they were twelve.

“Hey there little dude.” Wendy said walking over to Bill and holding out her hand to him. “I’m Wendy, I work for your uncle and aunt.” Wendy said smiling gently as Bill hesitantly reached out and shook her hand.

“I’m Bill Cipher Pines.” Bill said glancing at Dipper uncertainty. Dipper gave him a reassuringly and Bill turned back to Wendy smiling a little wider. “It’s nice to meet you, Wendy, I like your hair.”

“Thanks Bill, it’s something my entire family has in common.” Bill perked up.

“Is he part of your family then?” Bill asked pointing to a red haired tourist that had just come in. Wendy laughed.

“Not everyone with the same hair colour is related, little man.” Bill frowned slightly then perked up.

“Okay. Your hair is redder than his anyway. Yours is the redist!” He laughed and grinned widely. 

“Well thanks, Bill.” Wendy said grinning back. “Hey Dipper why don’t you let me run the shop today? It’s not a weekend so it shouldn’t be busy. That way you can take your nephew out for ice cream or see if he’s as in to all the stuff in the woods as you are.” Bills head swiveled to look at Dipper hopefully. Dipper shifted from one foot to the other. It was Mabel that was really good with kids, Dipper never seemed to be able to keep up or keep track of them. But Bill was looking at him with such wide and hopeful eyes.

“Okay we can go for a bit of a walk in the less dangerous areas of the woods. Mabel would kill me if we went out for ice cream without her, so maybe we can do that between tours.” Bill whooped and leaped up from the stool he was sitting on and he and Dipper went out exploring together.

After that, Bill started calling Wendy, Red. At first Dipper was a bit suspicious that Bill actually did remember something since he was still using his old nickname. Especially when he became fascinated with Soos’ shirt and started calling him question mark. Mabel wasn’t worried though. She quickly managed to convince Dipper that Bill couldn’t remember, it was just that his brain still worked, at least partially, the same way, so it made sense that he would come up with nicknames the same way. She proved her point by not wearing her shooting star sweater for the first two weeks Bill was with them.

Instead she wore a few of her other sweaters. Bill settled on calling her Lightning Bolt because he thought her lightening sweater was the coolest. He did insist on calling Dipper, Pinetree still. When Dipper asked about it, Bill said it was because Dipper spent so much time outside he might as well be a tree and his list name was Pines. In the end Dipper had to let it go and admit that Mabel was probably right about Bill's reasoning.

Bill did well at the mystery shack. All the tourists thought that he was a very charming little kid, even though Bill developed a habit of jumping out shrieking at tours at the scariest moments. Usually these were dark moments so Bill could slip away laughing before anyone actually saw him, so Dipper or Mabel could pass it off as part of the tour. At first they had scolded Bill for it, but when they got a few good reviews about that part of the tour and realized that Bill wasn’t going to stop no matter how much they scolded him, they let it go.

Bill loved the tours and went along with them whenever he could. Though Dipper and Mabel always made him promise not to interrupt on those occasions. He loved the dramatics and act of it, Mabel had the idea of showing him Broadway performances online. Bill was in complete awe of the actors. After that it was really easy to get Bill to do or not do things because all they had to do was bribe him with letting him watch some of the more dramatic plays/movies he loved. It wasn’t long before he started asking if he could do a small performance as part of the tour.

“Well what would you want to do?” Mabel asked stirring her morning tea, which was a bit different from both Dipper's and Bill's.

“I don’t know, maybe magic tricks?” Bill asked fiddling with his tea and taking a sip. Mabel had had to change it a bit from the first time. Clove, rose, and cinnamon in chai for protection, cleansing, and strength to face the new day. It had contained chamomile as well, hers and Dipper's still did, but Bill hadn’t liked it so they had taken it out of his.

“Good idea.” Mabel said nodding easily. “You’ll have to learn some first though.”

“How do I do that?” Bill asked excitedly. Mabel let Dipper take over.

“There are plenty of how-to’s online, but you should master the few we have in the shack first so that while you're practicing others you can find online you can demonstrate those ones to customers. You get to put on a bit of a show in the mean time and tourists will be more likely to buy the tricks. I think that’s win win right?” Dipper said yawning, he hated mornings the most out of all of them.

“I guess.” Bill said nodding but he was frowning slightly. “But what’s the glory in being doing something that anyone can do?”

“Well once you master the basic ones the trickier ones will be much easier.” Mabel assured him. “You have to take baby steps, just like with knitting. You understand why you have to do sample pieces, and then a scarf, and then socks and eventually you get to sweaters right?” Bill nodded, he was still on scarves just then. “It’s the same with the magic tricks I bet. Once you’ve mastered the basics, like the knit stitch. You can start learning the more complicated one like twisted knit stitch, purling and stuff with knit stitch as a base.”

“Oh I get it!” Bill said grinning and bouncing, “So when can I start with the basics?”

“I don’t see any reason you couldn’t start today.” Dipper said with a shrug. “After breakfast I’ll help you read the directions on one of the packaged tricks, and then you can practice today as long as you don’t get in the way. If you need help or forget part of the directions get whichever adult isn’t busy to give you hand okay?”

“You got it Pinetree!” Bill said smiling widely. He wolfed down his breakfast after that and ran to the shop to pick out which magic trick he wanted to try first from the shelf of boxed magic tricks.

He mastered that one quickly, and then all of the other magic tricks on the shelf. But he couldn’t learn many of the more difficult ones before fall came and Dipper insisted that Bill start school. Mabel would have been alright with homeschooling Bill, but Dipper insisted that they couldn’t teach Bill everything he needed to know. Besides, the children that came to the shack only stayed for at most an hour and Dipper thought it was important that Bill interact with other children.

“I won’t like other children.” Bill said crossing his arms and pouting like the five year old he believed he was. 

“How do you know, Bill? Kids are great!” Mabel said finally giving in to Dipper to present a united front to Bill.

“Are they like you guys?” bill asked glaring at her.

“Well no, not exactly but-” Mabel admitted before Bill interrupted her.

“Then I won’t like them.” Bill grouched, leaning against the back of his chair with his small feet dangling far above the ground.

“But you love learning Bill. You’ll like it.” Dipper argued. It was the night before the first day of school and Bill was still trying to talk them out of taking him. This was at least the tenth time they had had this conversation.

“I like the things you and Lightning bolt teach me! If you can’t teach it I don’t see why I need to know it! You’ve already admitted that school won’t teach me about magic tricks or knitting or the magic things in the woods or codes!”

“No, but they will teach you to read, and you want to do that don’t you?” Dipper said persuasively. “It will help you with codes to no end!”

“Ya but you two could teach me to read!’ Bill objected.

“You’ve seen how hard we work to run the shack, Bill, we don’t have time to give you all the attention you’ll need to learn properly.” Mabel cut in. Bill couldn’t seem to come up with an argument so he only grumbled. He refused to drink the tea that helped him sleep that night. Dipper couldn’t help but rolling his eyes. Great now on top of not wanting to go, Bill would be over tired in the morning because he always had a hard time sleeping. That was just peachy.

In the end Mabel was the one who got him ready. Dressing him in jeans, his favourite yellow sweater, and his black boots that morning while he was still half asleep. Dipper picked Bill up when she was done and fixed him into the back seat where he promptly fell back asleep leaning against the door. Mabel and Dipper exchanged smiles as they got in the front seats. Dipper behind the wheel and Mabel in the passenger side.

Bill didn’t wake up again until they were almost five minutes away from the school, at which point Mabel passed his black backpack bag to him. He took it and looked around in confusion until he realized where they were. Then he looked furious, glaring at them accusingly.

“Yes we tricked you.” Dipper agreed grinning crookedly in the rearview mirror before Bill could say anything.

“I’ve packed you an extra granola bar, apple and yogurt that you can have for breakfast before class since we’re going to be early so me and Dip-Dop can talk to your teacher. There are a few extra packs of fruit gummies in there too but those are for you to share so you had better not eat them all yourself.” Mabel threatened even though all three of them knew Bill probably would eat them all himself. They were part of the bribery to make Bill stay calm about the whole affair.

“Fineeee.” Bill drawled, opening his bag rummaging in his lunch and taking out one of the granola bars. “There’s a thermos in here too.” 

“Oh ya that’s a tea that should help you stay calm and focused through the day.” Mabel said cheerily. “And don’t be afraid to step away from people when you feel like you need to. The teacher will need to know where you are, but the last thing we want is you getting overwhelmed or angry.” They had already noticed that when Bill was either of those things, or afraid strange things happened around him. Things breaking suddenly or catching on fire momentarily. They were doing their best to keep it under control and under wraps for now, and the bracelet helped with that.

Once they reached the school, Mabel and Dipper left Bill in the playground eating his breakfast and went in to talk to his new teacher. When they got in, the teacher had their back to the door.

“Umm excuse me miss..?” Dipper asked

“Oh.” The woman said in surprise. “Just call me Melody no need for a Miss.” She told them turning around.

“Melody, Soos’s girlfriend!” Mabel asked recognizing the woman immediately and bouncing over to give her a hug. “Oh my gosh it’s been ages since we’ve seen you! When did you get into town? We didn’t know you were the teacher.” 

“Ya, I just transferred here so I could be closer to Soos.” Melody said hugging Mabel back, and waving at Dipper from around her back. “What are you two doing here?”

“Our nephews going to be in your class!” Mabel said bouncing back. “We came to warn you that he’s a kinda odd kid. He better not give you any trouble but he’s not very good at dealing with other children. So just, he might go missing from time to time and it’s almost definitely that he got overwhelmed and needed to hide. Not that he’s been kidnapped.”

“Alright. Don’t you to worry I was a special needs kid myself, so I’ll do my best to give him all the attention he needs.” Melody said smiling widely. “Why don’t you bring your nephew in now so he has a chance to meet me before the craziness of the first class starts?”

“That’s a great idea Melody?” Mabel said and Dipper was already turning to go back into the yard.

“Bill?” he called from the school door. Bill's head snapped up from his seat where he had already opened one package of fruit gummies. Dipper shook his head but didn’t mention it. “Come on, it turns out your teacher is an old friend of Mabel and mine and she’d like to meet you before class starts.” Bill bounced up and hopped over to Dipper.

“How do you know her?” Bill asked excitedly.

“She and Soos have been in a long distance relationship since Mabel and me were twelve. I guess she’s finally moved back here so they can be closer. Her name is Melody.” Dipper explained as they walked back to the classroom. When they got closer, Bill rushed ahead of Dipper into the classroom.

“It’s nice to meet’cha Melody!” Bill said with one of his widest smiles. “I’m Bill Cipher Pines!”

“It’s nice to meet you to Bill.” Melody said and held her hand to shake, which Bill eyed suspiciously and didn’t take. Melody retracted it quickly. “It’s okay you don’t have to shake my hand if it makes you uncomfortable. I want you to know that I’ll do everything I can to make sure you feel comfortable and safe in my class okay.”

“I like you Melody!” Bill said smiling up at her in a more sincere way. “Can I call you Music Note? I give everyone nicknames, Mab is lightning Bolt, Dip is Pinetree and Soos is Question Mark, can I call you Music Note?” 

“Well I think in the classroom you should just call me Melody so we don’t confuse the other kids. But I’m sure I’ll be coming round to the shack to visit Mabel, Dipper, and Soos from time to time and then you can call me Music Note if you like.”

“Thank you! Okay now I’ll shake your hand!” Bill said holding out his small hand to Melody, who laughed and shook it. Behind them Mabel and Dipper smiled at each other, with Melody looking after Bill his first year of school should be fine.

Their suspicions were confirmed that night when they picked Bill up together. He bounced over to the car bouncing slightly and got into the back seat throwing his bag too hard against the other side. That wasn’t anger though, they knew he just didn’t understand physical force sometimes.

“How was your day, sweetie?” Mabel asked, she was driving this time which meant Dipper was holding on to his seat. 

“It was great!” Bill exclaimed grinning in a way that looked like it hurt, it probably did, he had never stopped finding pain hilarious. “The ‘other children’ have recognized my superiority and declared me their king!” Bill declared, throwing his hands in the air. “Don’t worry though I've declared Melody my regent, so they have to listen to her too.” Dipper laughed that sounded about right.

“Well that’s very good of you, Bill.” Mabel said smiling at him in the mirror, before Dipper yelled at her to pay attention to the road before she hit a cat.

“Sounds like you had fun.” Dipper said smiling at him. Bill nodded vehemently. “Did you learn anything?”

“Just the beginnings of the alphabet.” Bill said shrugging, sometimes it was easy to forget how young Bill was when he was so well spoken. But then it was even easier to forget that he was probably older than the planet and had just forgotten about that. “She says that by the end of next week we’ll be able to read and write our names but I bet I’ll be able to do it sooner. I bet I can do it by the end of this week!”

“I’ll take that bet!” Mabel said grinning in the rearview mirror again. “If you can learn to read and write your name by the end of the week we can go out for dinner this weekend!”

“You got it, Lightning Bolt!” Bill shrieked happily. “You’d better shake on that when we get home!”

“You bet I will!” Mabel said. For the rest of the car ride they listened to Bill chatter about how he couldn’t decide if A was is favorite letter, because the capital was a triangle. Or if Y was his favorite because it was the start of Yellow. Then about some of the people in his class and how a boy had tried to bully him about his sweater but Bill had sassed him so hard the bully hadn’t known what hit him.

“Good for you Bill! Physical violence is almost never the answer, so your brain and wit will be your sharpest weapon.” Dipper broke in at that point. Bill paused for a moment practically glowing at the praise before he continued on with his tirade until it was like Mabel and Dipper had been there all the way through his first day.

“What do you want for dinner tonight, Bill?” Mabel asked once they were home, out of the car and had shook on their earlier bet. “Since it’s a special occasion you can pick.”

“Mac and Cheeeeese!” Bill exclaimed. “Can it be homemade!? With those bread crusty bit on top to make it crunchy!?”

“Sure.” Mabel said laughing. “That will take awhile to make though, so you should have a piece of fruit or something as a snack in the meantime.”

Bill nodded, hopped over the fruit bowl then counted and picked out a banana, and then skipped over to Dipper, so Dipper could open it for him. Once the banana had been pealed Dipper handed the fruit back to Bill who took a bite big enough that it might have made someone else gag.

“An we atch a ovie ile we ait?” Bill asked though his mouthful.

“Honestly, Bill, don’t talk with your mouth full we can’t understand you.” Dipper said at the same time that Mabel said “sure” the two of them stared at each other for a moment while Bill laughed.

“Okay what do you want to watch?” Dipper said finally shrugging. “And not Alice in Wonderland.” Bill closed his mouth looking disappointed and thought for a minute.

“Fern Gully?” Bill asked.

“Sounds good I like that one too.” Dipper said and they went into the living room to put on the movie.

“Turn it up during the songs so that I can hear too!” Mabel called from the kitchen. “Especially Batty rap, I love Batty rap!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has ideas of what movies/shows Bill would like please please let me know me and my friends have been having a really really hard time figure it out!


	5. Get Wrecked!

That night Bill ate so much mac and cheese he made himself a little bit sick. The novelty of human food didn’t seem to have gone away with his memory. He still enjoyed eating and drinking way more than would seem normal. Not that it mattered. Bill never stayed still and seemed to have the metabolism of a hummingbird, so Dipper and Mabel didn’t think it was a bad thing that Bill ate so much. Tonight it just meant that after dinner Bill was very very sleepy.

They had had a late dinner anyway, so afterwards Mabel made Bill some warm milk with honey and cloves to help him along into sleep. After that Bill was so tired that Dipper had to carry him upstairs, and stay while he brushed his teeth to make sure he didn’t fall asleep while he was doing it. Dipper helped Bill into his pj’s and tucked him into bed. Dipper only made it halfway through reading The Cat In The Hat to Bill before he was asleep. Dipper finished reading the story anyway and then tiptoed out of the room

“He’s already asleep?” Mabel asked when Dipper came downstairs.

“Ya, I think school today really tuckered him out, poor guy.” Dipper said, softly leaning against the doorway to Mabel’s craft room, where she was knitting a matching sweater for Bill’s favorite doll. “I’m going to go adventuring for a bit while he’s out. We need to refresh some of our magical ingredients.”

“Okay have fun and be safe, bro bro.” Mabel said waving Dipper away distractedly.

“I will.” Dipper said, and left Mabel to her crafting.

\\(^_^)/ (ß little time skip friend)

The next morning Dipper was the one who took Bill to school. Mabel had stayed up late crafting, whereas Dipper had never gone to bed having stayed out adventuring all night fueled on adrenalin. He would let Mabel run the shack for the morning and go to sleep once Bill was in class. On the drive Bill sat in the back and chattered to Dipper about how he hoped his day would go.

Today he had dressed himself today. He had chosen black t-shirt, black shorts, and black knee socks with yellow triangles. He had been pestering Dipper and Mabel to let him get his ears pierced like Mabel’s were, but they were waiting to see if he could sustain the desire before they would let him get them. Besides they were both sure he would just insist on wearing triangle studs constantly.

“Why do you like triangles so much Bill?” Dipper asked when again Bill asked about the earrings. This time questioning if he could get them once he had made it through his first week of school. Bill tilted his head to the side for a moment looking away from Dipper and seeming to think hard about that.

“I don’t know I just think they’re cool.” Bill said his eyebrows furrowing. “I like the number three and they have three sides and I’ve seen pictures of the pyramids in the mystery shack and that’s really really cool. I wanna know how they made them and stuff but no one knows right?” Bill said looking up at Dipper.

“No, no one does.” Dipper said grinning at Bill. “Some people think that aliens built them.” 

“Aliens really!?” Bill asked excitedly his eyes widening comically making Dipper laugh. “Well? Did they!?” Bill asked bouncing in his seat.

“I don’t know, Bill, surprisingly I am not old enough to have been around when the pyramids were built.” Dipper chuckled again when Bill stuck out is tongue and blew a loud raspberry at Dipper. “There are documentaries that go into theories about that though.” Dipper added.

“Can we watch them!?” Bill asked bouncing even higher. Dipper noted that every time Bill bounced he seemed to hover for a brief moment before he came back down.

“I’ll have to wait until after school. Are you sure you want to come back from a day of education to more education?” Dipper asked half joking.

“YES!” Bill yelled loud enough to hurt Dipper ears. “I want to know lots of things just like you! And I want to be able to DO lots of things just like Lightning bolt!”

“Hey I can do things to.” Dipper grumbled as they pulled up to the school.

“Ya but you can’t make things like Mabs.” Bill said unbuckling his seatbelt, opening his door, and sliding out of the car onto the sidewalk dragging his backpack after him.

“That’s fair.” Dipper said grinning crookedly. “Have a good day Bill, Mabel will probably be the one to come get you.”

“Okey Dokey!” Bill said, skipping off into the playground to be instantly greeted by three other kids his age before all four of them ran over to the monkey bars.

Dipper saw Melody watching the kids and waved to her before he drove away. He didn’t want to stall much longer. His sleepless night was starting to catch up to him and he thought if he didn’t sleep soon he might pass out. A car crash was the last thing that anyone needed.

By the time he got home Mabel was up and making herself breakfast. When she saw him she grinned at him happily.

“GOOD MORNING DIP’N DOTS!” She yelled making Dipper wince. “You got Bill to school okay? Should I make you coffee you look like death warmed over.”

“Ya Bill's at school fine.” Dipper said rubbing his eyes tiredly. “But I was out in the woods all night so don’t bother with the coffee. Just run the shop on your own for the morning so I can have a nap okay?” 

“Okay dokey!” Mabel said happily pouring herself a cup of Mabel juice. “Just do it for me some afternoon so I can go visit Paz.”

“Sure thing Mabs.” Dipper said nodding easily and heading upstairs. Once in his bedroom he kicked off his shoes and pants and flopped on his bed. A few years ago Mabel would have bothered him about this day sleeping messing up his sleep schedule, but she had gotten tired of his constant response “what sleep schedule?” and had finally left him alone about it. 

\\(^_^)/ (Meanwhile at Bills school)

“Hey shortstack what’s with the socks? They look like they’re meant for a girl.” Bill turned to face the older, taller boy who was talking to him and grinned widely at him.

“Maybe originally, but they have triangles on them which mean they’re made for me!” Bill explained happily rocking back and forth on his heals.

“So does that make you a girl?” The boy asked sneering. Bill tilted his head to the side slightly. He didn’t notice that the three friends his age were now hiding behind him.

“I don’t think that’s how gender works.” Bill said frowning and squinting up at the bully. “I thought it was something you were assigned at birth. Though Lighting Bolt says that you can change it when you're older, but it takes a lot of thinking about and being sure.” The boy blinked down at Bill in confusion for a minute. After the awkward pause, Bill said “I’m Bill Pines, my middle name is Cypher because codes are awesome! What’s your name?” 

“Ummm Joseph Valentine.” The older boy said still staring at Bill.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, I think you’re too old to be in my class though. But maybe if I get really really smart I can skip some.” Bill said happily with his usual overly large grin.

“Umm ya.” Joseph said and then wandered away again.

“Well he was nice.” Bill said turning back to his new friends. “A bit strange right?” It was a question Bill had been told a couple of times that, he, himself was strange. Or that his family was strange, so he wasn’t sure he was qualified to decipher who was strange and who wasn’t.

“Well ya but he’s usually really mean to people.” His friend, Elsie answered. He had been calling her Gold in his head because of the colour of her hair. But Music Note had made him think that maybe not everyone would want a nickname and he should wait a while to ask. “He’s like the biggest bully at the school.”

“Really?” Bill said tilting his head to the side again and squinting in confusion. “Why would he do that?” He looked around at his friends as they all shrugged. “Humans.” Bill muttered under his breath. “Will they ever make sense?”

“What?” Thomas asked.

“Nothing, nothing, nothing.” Bill said quickly. “Let’s go play that grounders game, it’s a good game.” Touching the ground never seemed natural to Bill anyway. His friends perked up and they ran towards the climbers. If they hurried they could get a couple rounds before the bell rang.

They only got one and a half rounds in before the bell rang to go inside. Elsie and the others groaned but Bill didn’t. He was excited for class, he wanted to learn everything the world had to teach him. Especially of language, he hoped that someday he could learn every language in the world. Others may tell him that that was an unrealistic goal, but he didn’t care, he would do it. Despite that he was as happy as his classmates when the lunch break and recess came around.

Dipper had packed his lunch today when meant it was much more normal than when Mabel made it. because she liked to experiment. He had an egg salad sandwich, a banana, some celery sticks with a small container of vinaigrette dressing (he didn’t like the usual ranch or creaser), an apple sauce and some fruit gummies. He searched through his backpack and found a ziplock bag of the cinnamon and chocolate chip cookies Mabel had made last night and passed them out to his friends, jumping up from his seat to run over and give one to Music Note who was supervising their lunch and eating her own at her desk.

“Why thank you Bill.” She said accepting the cookie and smiling.

“You’re welcome Miss Melody.” Bill said and then ran back to his friends. They ate quickly so that as soon as the recess bell rang they could run out and continue their game. It was during the game while Connor was it, and Bill was standing on top of the climbing structure that he spotted Joseph on the other side of the playground. Bill lifted his arm to wave but hesitated when he saw Joseph push a smaller boy to the ground. Joseph and the two people on either side of him seemed to be laughing but the boy on the ground wasn’t. Joseph lifted his fist and the boy on the ground flinched.

In a flash Bill had leapt of the climbing structure, the gravel crunching under him as he landed awkwardly. He ignored Connor's call of grounders in favor of running on sore ankles over to Joseph to see what he was doing.

“What are you doing?” Bill asked, skidding to a halt between Joseph and the fallen boy before Joseph could land his punch.

“Get out of the way, weirdo.” Joseph snapped, but Bill didn’t move. After a moment of hesitation, Joseph punched Bill instead. The boy on the ground rolled over so that Bill wouldn’t land on top of him when the punch knocked him over. For a moment Bill was too shocked to react, he had never had anyone hurt him. But then he felt the stinging warmth on his cheek and slowly started chuckling. By the time he got back up to his feet he was laughing so hard he doubled over again.

“Pain is hilarious.” Bill said choking as he laughed so hard tears sprang to his eyes. He looked up at Joseph and his friends to find them staring at him in horror and his laughter cut off. “What, you don’t think so?” He asked his mouth twisting into a frown. “Let me show you.” Suddenly he lunged at Joseph, knocking him down and punching him twice in quick succession, before leaping up again and stepping back.

“See?” Bill asked still grinning, but Joseph didn’t seem to think it was hilarious. In fact as neither of his friends stepped in and the situation set in, he started to cry. And then to Bill’s confusion he yelled for a teacher. Melody and a teacher Bill didn’t know.

“What happened?” The man asked in alarm helping Joseph up.

“That kid his me!” Joseph said pointing at Bill accusingly, Bill's eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

“Bill, what happened? Did you hit Joseph?” Melody asked kindly but firmly kneeling down to Bill's level. Bill felt tears spring to his eyes and he sniffled.

“He hit me first, Music Note.” Bill said his lip quivering. “And Pine Tree is always talking about treating others how you wanna be treated, so I thought if he hit me it meant he wanted to be hit. That’s how it works right?” 

“Oh Bill.” Melody said her shoulders slumping, in disappointment or relief, Bill couldn’t tell.

“He still hit a fellow student.” The other teacher said scowling and putting a hand on Joseph's shoulder. “He needs to be disciplined.”

“He didn’t know any better Mr. Spencer.” Melody said as Bill shrunk closer to her. “You deal with the one who did know better, I’ll talk to Bill.” Melody said half glaring at Mr. Spencer. Who shrugged and led Joseph away talking to him softly. Melody led Bill away in the other direction back towards the kindergarten classroom. Bill looked back to see the other students watching him in awe and fear. Bill felt an odd twist of pleasure and pain inside his gut and turned back around quickly before he could start crying again.

“We’re supposed to treat others how we want to be treated right?” Bill asked once he and Melody were alone in the classroom.

“Well yes, Bill, we are.” Melody said tilting her head in acknowledgment. “But you had to learn that didn’t you? Your aunt and uncle taught you that.” Bill nodded. “Well some people won’t have as good of family as you, they forget to teach their children to treat others that way. They probably weren’t taught that either and so they treat people badly and then their children learn bad behaviors.”

“Is that why Joseph hit me?” Bill asked his eyes wide.

“I think it is Bill.” Melody agreed. “And that was a very bad thing for him to do, but it wasn’t entirely his fault because he just doesn’t know any better. But you do know better then to hurt other people right? So just because someone else did something wrong, does not make it okay for you to do something wrong as well.” 

“Oh, so it’s never right to hurt people? People don’t want that?” Bill asked tilting his head to the side.

“No.” Melody said nodding in approval.

“Okay.” Bill said smiling at her. Just then the door opened, and Mr. Spencer was standing in the door.

“Bill will you come with me to the office we’re going to call your parents.” Mr. Spencer said sternly.

“Don’t got parents, just an aunt and uncle.” Bill said crossing his arms and scowling at Mr. Spencer. He didn’t like it when he assumed that no one but his parents could be looking after him.

“Oh well your guardians then.” Mr. Spencer said fidgeting awkwardly. 

“Why?” Bill asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion and then widening again. “Wait no don’t call them, today's supposed to be their day off so they stayed up almost all night because they could sleep today! They need to sleep.” 

“We need them to come in and speak about your behavior.” Mr. Spencer told him in a superior tone.

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Melody asked. “I’ve already spoken to him and he won’t repeat the behavior.”

“I’ve already spoken to the principal and he has made the call. Mr. and Mrs. Pines will be here soon.” Mr. Spencer said crossing his arms. “Please come with me Bill.” Bill finally stood up and went across to Mr. Spencer.

“It’s Miss Pines. She and Dipper are siblings and neither of them are married.” Bill said grumpily as he let Mr. Spencer lead him to the office where he was sat in a chair, two down from Joseph, who glared at him. Bill ignored him and glared and Mr. Spencer instead.

After about twenty minutes Dipper and Mabel arrived Dipper still with hair mussed up from sleep and half closed eyes. At last Mabel looked like she had been awake already. Bill looked at them apologetically and then down in shame. Mabel crossed to him and put her hand on his head protectively.

“What’s going on?” She asked Mr. Spencer in irritation. Dipper yawned and slumped into a chair next to Bill.

“Bill was involved in a fight with another student.” Mr. Spencer told them his arms still crossed. “He punched Joseph” he gestured to where the boy was sitting. “Twice in the face.”

“Wat?” Dipped asked, sitting up fully awake and looking at Bill. Mabel looked at Bill too, quietly waiting for his side of the story. 

“I saw him push down another kid.” Bill explained. “I ran over to see what was going on and when I got in the way he punched me so I punched him back.”

“Oh that makes sense.” Dipper said and leaned back in his chair closing his eyes again.

“Good!” Mabel barked putting her fists up and making both Dipper and Bill jump. “Our kid shouldn’t start fights, but he can darn well finish them!” Mr. Spencer gaped at Mabel in astonishment.

“Ma’am are you sure that’s the appropriate reaction?” He asked after a moment.

“Yes.” Mabel said crossing her arms. “No one hurts my kid.”

“It’s okay Mr. Spencer. Melody explained to me that just because other people do bad things doesn’t mean it’s right for me to do bad things in response.”

“Oh that’s a better response.” Dipped said from next to Bill without opening his eyes. “Let’s go with that one.”

“Fine.” Mabel said in annoyance. “But that kid is bigger and stronger looking than Bill, and I am ashamed in you for wanting us to punish him for standing up for himself against a bigger kid that you didn’t stop from hurting him.” Mabel said pointing at Mr. Spencer disapprovingly. Mr. Spencer made a humming noise and shifted uncomfortably to his other foot.

“Do you want us to take him home is that why you called us?” Dipped asked through another yawn. “He is starting to get a pretty big bruise on his face, we have cream for it and stuff at home.”

“Yes, the principal has decided to suspend him for two days.” Mr. Spencer said seeming relieved.

“What!?” Mabel screeched making everyone flinch.

“Are you at least suspending Joseph as well for starting the fight?” Dipped asked sitting up and staring at Mr. Spencer.

“No. You see Bill punched Joseph twice, Joseph only hit Bill once.”

“Oh my.. I give up!” Mabel said throwing her hand in the air and Dipper stared at Mr. Spencer for a long moment before his lip curled in disgust.

“It’s okay I know you have a long and proud history of punishing the victim at this school, so we’ll take Bill home and make sure this isn’t a punishment for him at our end.”

“Starting with ice cream.” Mabel said glaring at Mr. Spencer. “Because that bruise your poor, defenseless, fourth grader gave our terror of a kindergartner looks pretty sore.”


	6. What to do

Mabel drove them directly to the ice-cream parlor. Dipper woke up about half way when Mabel started playing BABBA on the CD player. Dipper still had an old CD of it from when he was twelve, both Bill and Mabel knew that Dipper still loved it no matter what he said. Mabel swung into a parking space stopping so suddenly that Dipper whacked his head off the window. He got out of the car grumbling and rubbing the bump.

Once they were inside, Mabel ordered two scoops of bubble gum ice cream in a sprinkle dipped waffle cone, Bill ordered one scoop of triple chocolate in a regular cone, and Dipper ordered a mint chip milkshake. Once they all had their order, they all found a booth to sit at to eat their ice cream, knowing that if they took it back to the car it would get everywhere and the car would be sticky forever.

While they were at the ice cream parlor Dipper and Mabel took the chance to reinforce what Melody had told Bill about violence. They asked exactly what she had told Bill and he repeated her words to them, or at least the gist of them.

“Melody is a very smart person.” Dipper said nodding approvingly. “And she’s right Bill, I knew Joseph's father Robbie when he was a teenager and he was a bully too. Joseph is probably just repeating what he sees. You know the whole monkey see monkey do mentality.”

“Joseph isn’t a monkey, Pine Tree.” Bill corrected and Mabel snorted into her ice cream as she laughed.

“No he isn’t, it’s an expression.” Dipper explained patiently. “It means that people, especially younger people, tend to reflect the behavior of the people hey look up to.”

“Oh.” Bill said contentedly. “So I should never use violence?” 

“Well not unless there isn’t any other choice.” Mabel said exchanging a look with Dipper. “Violence can be a useful tool, but ONLY in self defense, do you understand, Bill? If you can run, run, if you can stop what’s happening any other way, use that other way, but if it’s the only way to keep yourself safe we want you to know how.” Mabel said and then glanced at Dipper.

“Maybe we should sign him up for self defense classes?” She asked Dipper tentatively. “After all it’s still too early for…” She trailed off but Dipper seemed to understand and he nodded.

“Good idea.” He said to Mabel and then to Bill. “It will teach you control as well, and discipline, that will be really important for you later.” 

“Why?” Bill asked curiously.

“For when you’re old enough to start learning the big magic tricks.” Dipper said winking at him. Bill gasped excitedly.

“When will that be!?” he asked nearly dropping his ice cream in excitement.

“Not for a while kid, calm down.” Laughing in a relaxed way that drove Bill mad. “You need a lot more discipline, and a few more years under your belt first, Maybe when you're twelve. That’s when me and Mabs started.”

“But that’s ages away!” Bill yelped indignantly.

“Ya it is.” Dipper agreed grinning wickedly.

“Best just forget we said anything to save your sanity.” Mabel agreed, matching Dippers grin making Bill groan. He would not win on this front so he went back to his ice cream. 

By the time Mabel and Bill had finished their ice creams, Dipper had fallen asleep on the table having hardly touched his milk shake. Since he wasn’t going to finish, Mabel and Bill split it in order to give Dipper some more time before they had to wake him up.

“How come he never seems to sleep well in his bed, but he can fall asleep on a table?” Bill asked Mabel curiously ,and she laughed.

“I have no idea ,Bill, honestly I’ve been wondering about that since we were both kids.”

“Wow that’s a long time.” Bill said his eyes wide and Mabel laughed reaching across the table to tweak Bill’s nose.

“You cheeky bugger, that’s rude!” She giggled “We’re not that old.”

“Well you’re a lot older than me.” Bill said. Mabel raised her eyebrows in a way that confused Bill all over again.

“Oh are we?” She asked with a knowing look that Bill couldn’t interpret yet.

“Yep, that’s how time works.” Bill said firmly crossing his arms petulantly. He didn’t like being confused. He liked feeling like he knew what was going on better than the people around him. He felt that way at school a lot, that’s why he liked it. It was also why he liked magic tricks, he knew how they worked while everyone he showed them to were confused and baffled. 

The person behind the counter was glaring at them now for having stayed too long, but both Mabel and Bill were ignoring them. If Dipper had been awake he might have cared enough to hurry them out, but he had started snoring lightly and was showing no signs of waking up.

Dipper didn’t wake up until about twenty minutes later, when a group of loud teenagers came bursting into the ice cream parlor. He started awake when one of them laughed loudly and glared at them over the back of his chair. He mumbled something like ‘now I know how the convenience ghosts felt’. Bill assumed that was a combination his mishearing and some dream Dipper had been having.

“Well we might as well be going now. Me and Bill finished your ice cream for you and the lady behind the counter has been glaring at us.” Mabel pointed out and Bill nodded vigorously. Mabel had been telling him uses for plants that started with A and that had been interesting for a while, but now he was bored. He wanted to go home and climb trees. He always felt better off the ground.

“Fine then, let’s go.” Dipper sighed. “I guess I’ll just make myself some coffee when we get home and try to wait till tonight to sleep.” Dipper said. Mabel picked up her purse and Bill jumped up. Dipper got up more slowly, groaning unhappily until Bill pulled him up all the way.

“Come on stop being old!” Bill whined and Dipper glared at him.

“Nope, not till I have had a hot bath and a good night sleep.” Dipper grumbled and followed Bill and Mabel out as they rolled their eyes at each other. She and Dipper weren’t even that old, but Mabel said that Dipper had been old since they were ten and he refused to admit otherwise.

“Keep this up and I’m going to get you a cane for Christmas this year.” Mabel threatened, pushing Dipper over to the car.

“Noo he’ll chase any friends away with it shouting “Get off my lawn!” Bill exclaimed, scrambling into the back seat and buckling his seatbelt.

“You two are both jerks.” Dipper said, settling himself in the car and crossing his arms tightly.

“But you love us.” Mabel said elbowing him playfully.

“Of course I do, you’re my family.” Dipper relented but he didn’t uncross his arms right away. He did cheer up when they got home though, and he and Bill watched a documentary on Aliens in history. Then all three of them had nachos for dinner with peas for a vegetable, because that’s what was in the fridge, and played a tabletop bored game. By the time they finished the board game, Bill was already starting to doze, so Mabel took him up to bed.

‘\\(-_-)/` ( little perspective change buddy because Bill’s not doing anything interesting)

While Mabel was upstairs tucking Bill in to bed, Dipper busied himself in the kitchen. Doing the dishes from dinner, drying them, and putting them away. Once that was done, he started brewing tea for himself and Mabel. He had half planned to go to bed as soon as Bill did, but today's events had made him realize that he and Mabel needed to talk. 

It was the ‘terror of a kindergartner’ remark Mabel had made that made Dipper realize that both he and Mabel had somehow forgotten that their kindergartner, really, was a terror. He was a demon older than both he and Mabel put together. The reason he and Mabel had regressed him was to make him less of a terror. If he was punching people at school, they obviously weren’t doing a very good job. Especially since Mabel had encouraged it. Somehow they had forgotten they weren’t Bill’s parents. They had forgotten the purpose of this exercise.

Now Dipper wasn’t sure what the should do. They couldn’t turn around and start treating Bill differently or he would get suspicious. They had to pretend to be like Bill’s parents, at least in order to make any difference. But Dipper didn’t know how to parent, and if he and Mabel messed this up there would be far larger consequences than therapy costs. After all, they couldn’t keep Bill in the dark forever could they?

No they couldn’t. Maybe they could keep Bill from finding out for his vessels natural life, but after Bill's body died no doubt he would be freed and remember. Now that wouldn’t be too much of a problem, since he assumed by then he and Mabel would be long dead. But Bill could time travel. Unless he and Mabel really made a difference, Bill might just go back in time to torment them even more. Not to mention whoever else he might hurt in the future.

While he thought, he fixed both his and Mabel’s teas. His with just a bit of milk, hers with almond milk and two sugars, then sat down at the kitchen table. Setting down his mug, he needed his for head and groaned. Thinking about this with so little sleep was beginning to give him a killer headache. He hoped Mabel would know what to do.

“So what do you want to talk about? Bill’s fast asleep” Mabel asked as soon as she came into the room, then sidled over to the table, picking up her cup of tea, and sitting down. Dipper didn’t even bother wondering how she knew. They were twins, they just knew things about each other sometimes.

“I think we’ve been forgetting what we’re trying to do by raising Bill.” Dipper said softly. “We’re trying to make him more gentle and kinder. The fact that he won a fight with a older, bigger boy, at the age of five does not bode well for that.”

“You’re right.” Mabel said sighing heavily and running her hands through her hair until it got caught on a tangle. “I’m sorry, I slipped and encouraged it, but what can we do? We can’t treat him any differently than we would treat a normal kid, he needs to believe he is a normal kid for now.”

“I don’t know, but we need to be careful.” Dipper groaned. “Parenting is stressful.”

“I know, Dipper. But you know I think parenting is stressful for everyone who does it, whether their kid is normal or not. Most kids don’t grow up to be evil psychos even if their parenting is only half decent. I mean I think we recognized that this might not work right? We were just desperate, so I think all we can do now is be the best parents we can be, and not blame ourselves if it doesn’t work out right?” Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but Mabel cut him off.

“Ya I know you love blaming yourself or other people, but Bill is a demon, Dipper. Violence and cruelty may be a part of his nature that no amount of parenting can erase. We don’t know, we're just hoping for the best here, right? I mean he seems normal enough that we forget what he is, but so do most psychopaths until you find out they’ve been torturing cats, you know? We researched this didn’t we.” 

“Ya we did.” Dipper conceded, sighing heaving and rubbing his face. “Still do you think we should sign him up for therapy or something? Just preemptively.”

“No that would make him wonder if something’s wrong. Right now he thinks everything is normal, we should keep it that way for as long as possible.” Mabel said firmly. Dipper was glad Mabel was the decisive one. One of them had be since Dipper could spend his entire life rethinking and second guessing.

“What about you and Paz?” Dipper asked softly and Mabel looked away. “You two have been together for years, she must be starting to want to think about moving in together and having a family of your own.”

“She understands that I’m committed to raising Bill, and that I need to do it with you. She doesn’t totally understand why or how, and she’s frustrated that I can’t seem to give her a straight answer about where he came from. But she understands. If we could let her be more involved I think she would like that. Let her take him shopping, they’ll get along well, I know it, and then he’ll have like two moms and a dad. That can’t be a bad thing can it?” She looked at Dipper pleadingly.

“No it can’t.” Dipper conceded, because it was what he knew Mabel wanted to hear and he thought it was true. The more support Bill had the better.

“Good.” Mabel said beaming. “I’ll call Paz tomorrow and tell her. She’ll jump at the chance, she’s been wanting to have some time to get to know our little Bill, and she never turns down a shopping trip.”

“Oh god she’s going to spoil him rotten!” Dipper groaned. “Please don’t let her spoil him rotten, that is the last thing we need.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she won’t.” Mabel laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with a shopping spree now and then. Especially if it makes Pacifica his new auntie.” Dipper nodded and looked down at his now cold tea with a grimace. “Are you done worrying now?” Mabel asked. Dipper nodded. “Good, then we both need to head to bed, Bill will be up bright and early no matter how tired we are.”

“You’re right.” Dipper said and stood up. “Thanks Mab you always know what to say to calm me down. Awkward sibling hug?”

“Awkward sibling hug.” She agreed wrapping her arms around Dipper and squeezing tightly for a minute, before they did their traditional ‘pat pat’ and separated chuckling softly.

After that Mabel went right to bed. Dipper stayed to clean up their mugs before he made sure the doors were locked, the charms on them still active, and the lights all off. Once he was sure the house was safe and dark he headed up to his room by feel more than anything, as he usually did. Once in his room he turned the light on, surveying the mess.

Every now and then, Mabel would tell him that if he didn’t clean his room, she would clean it for him using her own organization system. Then out of fear of not being able to find anything, he would clean his room. She hadn’t had time to do that in a while, so his room was a disaster. None of his clothes were in the wardrobe, instead piled on the floor and in the closet. There were bottles of various liquids, and jars of gels everywhere waiting to be tested or used.

The only things that were still perfectly organized were; his magical ingredients, still tucked in compartments hidden under the floor board and in the wall. And his books, which were sorted alphabetically by the authors last name, what language they were in, and the dewy dismal system if they were applicable. Some of the more dangerous or plain ones were also hidden in the shelf, hidden in the wall, so Bill didn’t get his hands on them accidentally.

He knew that he should just go to sleep, even though it wasn’t that late. Mabel was right, neither of them had slept well the night before and Bill would be up bright and early tomorrow. Already Mabel’s room was silent next to his, but Dippers brain was loud enough for both of them. His conversation with Mabel, and the just blooming night have shaken him out of the daze of the day. He doubted that even if he lay in bed with the lights off, and the white noise the doctor had suggested he would be able to sleep.

Instead he walked over to the wall, behind which his secret books lay, and pressed on the correct sequence of boards to open it. The panel popped out and slid out of the smoothly without making a sound. Dipper always made sure to keep it well oiled, the last thing he needed was for a squeaky door to wake Bill up. Carefully, Dipper picked up an old book about demons. He ran his hand over the spine fondly, then replaced it on the shelf and picked up a binder he had made with photocopied pages of the book.

He would have loved to pick up the old book and read it. Let the smell of old book comfort him and draw him deeper and deeper into the stories and facts the pages told but not now. He was too tired now, and that book was fragile with age. If he nodded off and dropped it, it might damage the cover or even crack the spine enough to release pages that already half wanted to fall out.

Better to read the copy and save the book. The copy had all the same information. So it would know just as well whether or not what he and Mabel were doing was worth while. Dipper had read this book many times, but he wasn’t sure he had read it specifically looking for instances of Demons showing emotions. That might give he and Mabel an idea of how likely they were to succeed in making a demon a well adjusted member of human society… somehow.

In all reality he was almost sure that the book had nothing to say on the matter, and that even if it did he and Mabel were committed to this now and would continue. He didn’t really care, he just wanted to do something so he lay in bed with his side lamp on and read the book, making notes on anything he thought might be useful, even though he knew he already had the same notes in an unorganized pile somewhere. He planned on falling asleep reading because, if nothing else, it would make him feel just a little better prepared in the morning even though nothing had changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took so long because I've been having a hard time with where the story will go from here. If I do continue it it will become a tragedy and I want to know what you people think of that. I know a lot of you have been reading it for the fluff and if that's the case I'm going to discontinue the plot and start doing a series of one shots and requests. If you want me to continue the plot let me know and be warned that it will get sad.


	7. A Lie or a Play?

Years passed and they tried to act like nothing had changed but something had changed and they all knew it. Bill was anxious to go to school so he never skipped that and acted perfectly there to everyone besides Mr. Spencer. No, it was home he skipped. He would miss the bus on purpose coming home and Dipper and Mabel would be forced to go looking for him. More often than not they found him in the woods.

Months after this began Dipper followed Bills tracks deeper into the woods than Bill had ever been before. Somewhere near to half way Bill’s tracks intersected that of a Gremoblin. Dipper started running, Bill would need help. Dipper pulled a enchanted knife out of it’s hidden sheath in his sleeve as he ran. Finally he burst into a clearing, he was flying at the big creature on top of Bill before he had even fully realized what had happened.

The creature shrieked as Dipper stabbed it’s shoulder and began chanting. The creature tore away but by the time it lunged at Dipper again the spell was complete. Dipper stabbed into the creature again and this time a burst of energy radiated out from the puncture continuing all the way through the creature. It froze and collapsed, Dipper ripped his blade free and ran over to Bill. 

Bill was lying on his side shivering and bloody. Dipper sheathed his knife and quickly examined Bill. 

“You’re okay now kid.” Dipper assured Bill and then froze, Bill wasn’t crying… he was laughing. There were long claw marks on his side and he was clutching them giggling. He looked up at Dipper with fear that contradicted his laughter.

“I-it feels g-good.” Bill stuttered licking a little bit of blood off his lip. “Why, why does it feel good?”

“It’s a special venom those creatures have so that their pray won’t try to get away.” Dipper lied seamlessly. “But that doesn’t make the wounds any less dangerous. Come on let me take you home.” Bill nodded and Dipper scooped him up carefully. It was harder now that he was older, almost ten now, but he had always been thin as a rake so he wasn’t heavy. Bill turned his face into Dipper's shoulder and started crying, broken by small hiccupping laughs now and then.

“Nothing makes sense.” Bill whispered. “This isn’t right, I swear I knew that thing but I’ve never seen it before have I? Why was everything black and white for a minute there? It was like I left my body and I was so happy about it. Did I almost die? Dipper I’m scared.” Dipper was about to answer but Bill didn’t give him time before he kept talking. “And other things don’t add up, I’m your nephew right? I should look something like you but I don’t!

“Why don’t my parents ever come to see me? Why don’t I remember them at all? There’s something wrong with me isn’t there? There’s something wrong with me and they didn’t want me. No one seems to act like I don’t belong but I know I don’t, it feels like this is all some kind of joke! Some sick play to keep me in the dark.

“Red and yellow are the only colours that ever look right.” At that point Bill passed into incoherent mumbling and Dipper started to jog with him. He was losing too much blood. Dipper could see his eyes flickering back and forth between gold and brown.

“Just hang on Bill. I’ll get you to a hospital and get you patched up. Then we can talk through everything that’s bothering you including about your parents okay?”

“Okay.” Bill murmured and then his eyes slid shut. Dipper could still feel his breathing. As soon as Dipper saw the car where Mabel was waiting he yelled at her to get the car running. Mabel had learned how to drive from Stan, so it was minutes before they were bursting into the hospital and handing Bill over to a nurse.

“He was attacked by a bear.” Dipper explained as Mabel followed the gurney, she had never gotten very good at lying. “I found them and was able to use the ‘get big’ tactic to get the bear away. Then I just grabbed him and ran.”

“Why were you in the woods, sir?” The doctor asked suspiciously. “Those look like some big cuts for a bear.”

“He’s my nephew and he wasn’t at home.” Dipper said rolling his eyes. “Bill likes to go into the woods. He gets it from me so I’m a pretty good tracker. I was following his tracks to try and get him home.”

“Where are his parents?” The doctor asked. “Shouldn’t they be informed?”

“Hell if I know where his parents are.” Dipper snapped. “And don’t ask him about them. Me and my sister Mabel have been looking after him since he was four, he doesn’t remember his parents. We don’t know where they are and we haven’t tried to find them, they never came back for him so they shouldn’t know anything!” The doctor looked shocked then nodded.

“Okay we’ll look after him. We'll probably have to send your sister back out though, we’ll let you know when you can see him again. He’s been here for check ups of course?”

“Of course, you should have a file on him.” Dipper agreed and the doctor hurried away. Dipper had a seat in the waiting room. He was joined by Mabel soon after. 

“He wants to know about his parents.” Dipper said after a moment of sitting in tense silence with Mabel. She leaned against his shoulder seeking comfort from the one person she had known her entire life.

“Any more?” She asked softly.

“Feeling like he doesn’t belong. I think it might be time to use the magic cards.” Dipper murmured back and Mabel nodded.

“We were going to when he was ten anyway right? Maybe the new card trick will keep him from wondering off, after all this one will take him a long time to learn.” Dipper nodded and leaned his head against Mabels, his cheek resting on the softness of her hair. Breathing in the scent that was as familiar as his own, even more so than the smell of the woods.

“We’ll be okay?” He asked, he could already feel his mind spinning out of control thinking of all the things that could go wrong, but he knew one thing that could silence it.

“We’ll be okay.” Mabel agreed emphatically. Dipper sighed letting out the tension that had been building up before it could come to a peak.

“Okay.” He agreed. They waited for nearly three hours, after two Pacifica showed up. Neither of them had called her but she had found out somehow. Neither of them were surprised. While she had been dating Mabel she had become like a second aunt to Bill and often took him shopping. They had very similar fashion senses and Bill didn’t mind playing doll for Paz to dress up.

Mabel leapt up and ran to hug her long time girlfriend and Dipper watched them contentedly. He had never been in a relationship really, but he had found that by the time he had graduated high school he didn’t want to. His obsession with Wendy had been just an obsession, not a romance, and he didn’t think he wanted romance now. That just meant he could be truly happy for Mabel's happiness without being jealous at all. Especially since Paz understood that Dipper and Mabel needed to keep living together to raise Bill. She had even suggested all four of them move in together. That was still under discussion though.

Finally the doctor came back out.

“We had to give him a blood transfusion but it seems to be going well.” The doctor explained. “He had many stitches but they’re finished now and there was no damage done to internal organs. He should be waking up soon and it would be best if the people who care for him are there at that point. He explained giving Paz a curious look then shrugging it off. “I’d like to keep him overnight to give the stitches time to set. You’ll be able to take him home first thing tomorrow just bring him in if there’s any sign of infection.”

“Of course!” Mabel agreed instantly as they were lead through into the hospital room where Bill lay. He was indeed still asleep with the bandages covering his entire right side. There were two chairs, Dipper let Mabel and Paz have them leaning against the wall near the head of the bed instead. He leaned down and pushed Bill’s bangs out of his face.

Bill’s eyes flickered open and to Dippers relief they were solid gold again.

“Hey Bill, how are you feeling?” Mabel murmured leaning forward and taking his hand. Bill’s eyes flicked between the three of them quickly a few times before he licked his lips and blinked slowly.

“Like a ghost. My body’s all weird, is it even there?” Bill asked, his voice raspy and his eyes wide.

”That’s just the pain medications, love.” Paz assured laughing.

“But I wasn’t in pain.” Bill said in confusion.

“Don’t worry Bill, they just didn’t know. I told them a bear attacked you because they don’t know about half of those creatures in the woods.”

“Oh.” Bill said. “When do we go home?” Even though he was still young, Dipper knew he understood they couldn’t talk here. Even without meaning to Dipper knew that he and Mabel had instilled a distrust of other people in him. They had to drill into his head all sorts of things that were not to be talked about or shown to people outside of the family. It had been a necessary evil. 

“Tomorrow.” Mabel assured. “I’m afraid you’ll have to stay home from school for a couple of days, but it will give us plenty of time to talk, okay?” Bill nodded his eyelids drooping.

“I’m tired.” Bill sighed, closing his eyes.

“Go to sleep, kid.” Dipper assured. “When you wake up again it will probably be time to head home.” Bill nodded and sighed, the pain killers luring him back into sleep quickly. The three adults sat in silence for a few long minute, Pacifica eyeing Mable and Dipper oddly.

“You two are keeping secrets, aren’t you? About Bill.” She asked once all three of them were sure Bill was asleep. Dipper stayed silent leaving it to Mabel to answer truthfully or not. Paz was her lover after all.

“Yes.” Mabel said simply. “For everyone’s good.”

“Even his?” Paz asked raising one perfectly penciled brow.

“We hope so.” Dipper filled in and Mable nodded seriously. Paz evaluated them both for a long moment then shrugged.

“I trust your judgment, I know you two deal with things I don’t always understand. God knows the whole town would be a ruin if it weren’t for you to working backstage.”

“Backstage.” Dipper sighed, remembering what Bill had said about his life feeling like a play. "You know it kinda feels like after that sock opera of Mabel’s when we were twelve, we just never got off the stage.”

Mabel hid her face in her hands for a couple of minutes and Paz put her arm around Mabel’s shoulders. Neither of them contradicted what Dipper had said. Subconsciously Dipper rubbed his arms where the first scars Bill had even given him still lay. After all gouges with a dull instrument, like a fork, hardly healed cleanly. He and Mabel would never have a normal life now. In a way they had been doomed since the first time Dipper had shook Bill’s hand. Maybe long before that.

The next morning they took Bill home with a supply of painkillers they didn’t know whether or not they would use. Bill was silent on the way home as the sleeping pills and painkillers wore off. It wasn’t until they were home, sitting around the kitchen table with breakfast and Paz gone, that he spoke.

“You said you would tell me what happened about my parents.” Bill reminded them. He sounded scared. Dipper could understand why.

“Yes.” Mabel said exchanging a look with Dipper. “Well you see, there is magic in the world. More than your card tricks. Real magic.” Carefully Mabel pulled a summoning circle out of her pocket. Laying it down on the table she murmured something, retracing the signs with her finger, then lifting her hand. When she did there was a small forest spirit, a fairy sitting cross-legged, in the center of the circle. It looked around at all of them unimpressed then got up, dusted off it’s tiny legs and flew out the window again.

“Me and Mabel are both gifted in it.” Dipper explained watching the fairy fly away with some malice. He and Mabel had been using that spell as an easy way to get fairy wings and blood for spells, he loathed to see it go. “Our big sister was not. You showed signs of your power way earlier than either of us did. Your mother's husband was religious and when you began glowing when your nightlight went out and floating, he believed you were possessed.

“Your mother didn’t know what to do so she brought you to us. She thought since we deal with the paranormal we would be able to get rid of the demon they thought was in you. We couldn’t convince her that you weren’t possessed, only powerful.”

“They were going to take you to other priests known for violent exorcisms.” Mabel sighed. “The kind who think drowning the ‘possessed’ person and resuscitating them is the only way to get rid of the demon.” Mabel continued for Dipper.

“In the end we decided not to give you back for your own safety.” Dipper sighed. “We were going to tell you all of this when you were ten. We didn’t start learning to control our powers until twelve, so we thought maybe ten was close enough with how early you manifested.”

Bill sat in shock for a long minute and they let him process without interrupting. They had just dumped a lot of information on him, even though it was almost all false.

“But I haven’t been able to float or anything that I can remember!” Bill yelped finally.

“It’s because of the bracelet.” Mabel explained taking Bills hand and pushing up his sleeve to show his allergy-warning bracelet. “You’re not actually allergic to anything, but it suppresses your magic. Magic when undirected can be a terrible thing. You could have killed someone and learning it takes discipline a young child doesn’t have.”

“That’s part of the reason we encouraged you to learn false magic tricks.” Dipper cut in. “Working on those increased your patience and diligence. You’ve already gotten a head start in learning by practicing them.”

“Oh.” Bill said, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “I’ve always half known there was magic! I want to learn right away but…” He trailed off and looked down tracing a invisible pattern on the table. “My parents never even came back to see me?” Bill asked. Mabel got up and went around the table to hug him gently. 

“Don’t worry about it too much Bill. After we started manifesting our parents sent us to our uncle here. They didn’t come to visit us either. It seems to be almost a family tradition.” Mabel reassured Bill. Dipper didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. After a long minute Bill took a deep breath. 

“So when can I start learning magic?” Obviously trying to push down his hurt so he wouldn’t cry. 

“Soon.” Mabel promised. “You have to be fully healed first. I know some healing magic but it’s neither Dipper or my specialty so it will only go so far.”

“Okay that makes sense.” Bill said sounding crestfallen.

“I can teach you about the theories around it and how it works before you start trying it out though. There are books you can read. After your better there will still be things to do. We need to go out in the forest again so you can learn the plants and creatures. Ingredients in potions, runes, spells, incantations. There’s a certain amount of magic that is focusing inane energies, different for almost everyone. Most of it is a trick of finding the right… pathways for power and ways of drawing in extra power to supplement your own.

“Otherwise you’ll get to tired and start drawing on your own life. It’s dangerous, that’s also why we didn’t want you learning too young.” 

“Okay I understand.” Bill said his face serious.

“You’re so mature for your age, Bill.” Mabel said softly. “But please don’t get to grown up and independent. We’re not ready to let you out into this dangerous world yet.” 

“Don’t worry, lightning bolt.” Bill said hugging her back carefully so as not to stretch his stitches too much. “I still need you two.”

“Oh and that remind me.” Dipper said snapping his fingers. “You’re grounded. No tv for two weeks, not even documentaries. You scared the hell out of us disappearing into the woods like that when we told you how dangerous it was!”

“But-“ Bill started but Mabel cut him off.

“And from now on one of us is going to come pick you up at school. Until you're ready we’re making damn sure you don’t go back into those woods alone!”

“Don’t worry if you're playing with some of your friends we’ll wait for you.” Dipper added. “We’re not trying to isolate or smother you. Just protect you.”

“You two are no fun.” Bill grumbled.

“Oh come on, if we were really no fun we’d be making you wait until you’re twelve to learn magic like we were.” Mabel objected.

“Now come with me. Most of our magic books are in my room.” Dipper beckoned. “I’ll show them two you and you can start working on learning Latin. That and Goidelic are the languages most of the spells we use are in. You said you wanted to learn more languages anyway, didn’t you?”

“Yes!” Bill yipped excitedly getting up from his chair as quickly as he could and following Dipper out of the kitchen and up to Dipper's room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to get up I was trying to think of a solution for the ending problem because the votes were pretty much down the middle between "All the sad!" and "Angst is fine as long as there's a happy ending". I think what I've decided to do is create almost like a choose your own adventure. Once it's come to the time to bring this story to a close I will post two ending, one of which is the 'Happy ending" and one of which is the true ending. Warning to anyone who chooses the happy ending it will seem a bit forced because it is but I want to give you what you want.


	8. Transformations

Bill picked up the language of magic quickly, coming along in leaps and bounds that impressed both Mabel and Dipper. By the time he was healed enough to begin practicing magic Dipper had finished a new bracelet with slightly lowered wards. He had to explain to Bill what all of the symbols were explaining that the demonic ones were to keep any demons from feeding off of his energy or possessing him.

“Why are you so worried about demons?” Bill asked when Dipper had explained. “You have these sorts of symbols everywhere! Around the shack, on my bracelet, on the necklaces you and Mabel always wear. Even on the ring Mabel gave Paz though I don’t think she’s noticed.” Dipper reaching up and fiddled with the wooden beads of his necklace.

“When I was a bit older then you, twelve I think. I was tricked by a demon. I was even hungrier for information at the time then you are now and he promised me he could help me learn all the secrets of the universe. But he lied, instead he pulled my soul out of my body and possessed it, using it as a puppet to try and start the end of the world. Everyone with any power needs to know to be wearing of demons.” 

“So I really could have been possessed by a demon as a baby?” Bill asked staring at Dipper with wide eyes. 

“Well yes and no.” Dipper answered awkwardly turning away to pull another book of a high up shelf. “See there are tests can be done to tell if someone is possessed. The most common one in a change in eye colour but your eyes have always been kinda yellow. So instead we used some other more complex tests. You came up clear every time so we knew you couldn’t be possessed.” 

“Could… could we run them again?” Bill asked softly and Dipper whipped around, knocking a few papers off his desk, and stared at Bill. Bill blushed.

“Why do you feel like your possessed? I don’t think you could be. Everything I’ve read says that two spirits can’t inhabit the body at once, if there was a demon inside you it would have had to kick out your soul to do it.” Bill shrugged and Dipper sighed putting a hand on Bills shoulder and squeezing comfortingly before starting to pick up the papers he had knocked off the table. “No you’re fine, the bracelet will have kept anything out of you. Besides a demon, even one possessing a body can’t get inside this house it’s to heavily protected. Don’t worry kid.” 

“Okay.” Bill said but he didn’t sound certain.

“Well are we going to work on that transformation spell?” Dipper asked changing the subject. “Your friends mom says you can get her a hamster for her birthday like she asked. I got the mice lets see if we can make one a hamster.” Bill perked up instantly.

“Where do we do it!? Here!?” he yipped excitedly bouncing up to his feet.

“No.” Dipper laughed. “No magic is something we have to be very careful about. There are a couple of secret floors underneath the mystery shack. That’s where me and Mabs do any more complicated or messy spells. This one shouldn’t be either but the first time doing a transformation spell can get… messy to say the least.” Dipper laughed handing Bill the book he had just gotten down and leading the way downstairs. 

“It won’t! I’ll get it right really quickly! I want Gold to have the best birthday ever!” Bill said as he followed Dipper.

“You really like that girl huh? What’s her real name again? Eliza?” Dipper asked motioning for Bill to turn around as Dipper put the code into the vending machine. Bill did Mabel and Dipper had made it clear that he had to be cooperative during his magic lessons if he wanted them to continue. That might wear off over time but at this point they were still new and novel enough that Bill was behaving. 

“Elsie.” Bill corrected.

“Right Elsie. Okay you can turn around now the door is open.” Bill turned around promptly and they headed down into the first layer of the basement. Bill wasn’t allowed into the other three yet. Now that the portal was dismembered though it as a nice big clear area perfect for magical workings. It was where they had first bound Bill. 

“This place seems familiar.” Bill commented pausing momentarily in the doorway.

“This is where me and Mabel preform all of our more… conspicuous works of magic.” Dipper said. “So this is where we tested to see if you were possessed, we gave you something to keep you a bit calm and addled first because we didn’t want you to panic but I suppose you might still half a half memory of it.” Dipper conceded handing Bill chalks so he could start working on the correct spell circle.

“Why wouldn’t I have been calm?” Bill asked curiously as he crouched down and started drawing.

“There were precautions to be taken.” Dipper explained clasping his hands behind his back as he watched Bill. “That spacing is a little to wide.” Dipper commented and then continued his explanation as Bill fixed it. “Just in case you did turn out to be possessed we had to restrain you. Demons don’t like to be exercised and will often try to hurt the person who’s preforming it and/or the body they’re in. 

“You cannot tell me you would have been calm while me and Mabel tied you down in the center of a spell circle made, at least partially, from blood and chanted over you in strange languages. That was before you know anything about magic after all.”

“Ya I probably would have though you were going to feed me to a demon not check if there was one inside me.” Bill agreed half laughing. “I have seen something like that in my dreams though so I guess I kinda remember it?”

“I guess so.” Dipped agreed feeling a little uneasy twinge in his gut that he ignored as he pointed out another mistake in the circle. “Honestly I thought you had this circle down. Maybe you should practice it a few more times before-“

“Nonono!” Bill said quickly shaking his head quickly. “I’m just a bit excited and nervous I can do it! I do know it!” 

“Okay.” Dipper relented holding up his hands in defeat and grinning. Bill was more careful after that and finished the circle with few mistakes which were corrected quickly. Once the circle done Bill took one of the mice out of the bag placing it in the center of a circle and trapping it under a large glass bowl Dipper had brought down earlier so that it couldn’t run away. 

The first time Bill tried the spell the mouse squeaked and exploded. Blood splattered over the circle. Bill looked with wide eyes at his ruined circle and then up at Dipper. 

“What did I do?” He asked sounding distraught. 

“Wow wow it’s okay kid.” Dipper assured resting his hand on Bills shoulder. “You’re nervous so you got the accent a little off. Just practice the words for me a couple more times while I clean this up. I’ll redraw the circle for you since I know you can do the circle right now. Okay?”

“Okay.” Bill said sniffling. 

“Try to rain in your power a bit too.” Dipper said as he got a cloth and started to clean up the blood, at least there wasn’t that much blood in the body of a mouse. “I have a feeling you were born with more power then me or Mabs. You might just be trying to use more magic then the mouse’s poor little body can hold. Look at how small the mouse is and use the same size of power.”

Bill nodded and started muttering the words quietly. Dipper listened carefully correcting Bill gently when he got things wrong. After five more repetitions Bill seemed to be more sure of himself and Dipper was finishing up the circle. He had enough practice to be very quick with ruin work.

“Are you ready to give it another try?” Dipper asked sitting up. “You don’t have to if you’re not you know. We can take a break and we can always just buy a actually hamster.” 

“No I can do it! Let me try again.” Bill pleaded.

“Of course.” Dipper said and took out a second mouse placing it in the middle of the circle again.

Bill stepped forward and looked down at the mouse intently then hesitated. “Can I hold it first?” he asked. “I think holding it might give me a better idea of how much power to use.”

“Sure.” Dipped said and picked up the mouse again placing it in Bills cupped hands where it sniffed about. Bill giggled when its little whiskers tickled his palm. 

“If I don’t… make to many mistakes can I keep a couple of these?” Bill asked Dipper. “They’re cute.”

“Sure.” Dipper said shrugging. “As long as you look after them.”

“Okay!” Bill said and put the mouse back down. This time when he started the spell he went slowly and carefully, giving care to each letter and syllable. The spell went off without a hitch and now there was a small teddybear hamster.

“Well Done!” Dipper cheered hugging Bill. “You can definitely keep a couple mice after that. It took me four tries to get it right the first time and you only took two! Well done.” 

“Yay!” Bill said throwing his arms up in the air and grinning then hugging Dipper back. 

“Let’s go show Mabs huh?” Dipper asked and Bill nodded emphatically picking up the little hamster in his hands.

“You know I think holding it really did help because I didn’t want to hurt it so I was that much more careful to get it right!” Bill said smiling down at the little animal as Dipper lead the way back upstairs so they could find Mabel. Suddenly Bill frowned and stopped looking up at Dipper with big worried eyes. “What is I got something wrong on the inside?” He asked anxiously. “I don’t know what the insides of these things look like how do we know I didn’t mess that up? What if I hurt it inside?”

“I didn’t know what the inside of a hamster looked like the first time I did the spell either.” Dipper laughed sitting down on the stairs so he could be closer to Bill’s eye level, he was still a pretty small kid. “The differences between a hamster and a mouse are minimal that’s what makes it a good thing to start with. I really doubt you messed anything up on the inside and even if you did we have a couple days before the party to watch it and anything wrong will show itself before that.”

“Okay.” Bill agreed so Dipper got up and lead the way the rest of the way upstairs. They found Mabel in the kitchen and she praised Bill up and down for both his success and for being so considerate of the mice’s feelings that he only took two tries. Bill beamed from ear to ear and went to put the little hamster in the cage they got for it.

“Bill come on if you’re going to keep a couple of those little mice we need to get them a more permanent home, let’s go to the pet store and get them a cage.” Dipper called from the front hall where he was standing with the car keys in his hand but not his shoes on. As he suspected Bill and Mabel came barging into the hall at the exact same time.

“Oh no you don’t!” Mabel half yelled, “If there’s a trip to the pet store happening around here I’ll be the one who’s taking it. You stay here and continue the potion.” She snatched the car keys from Dippers hands and started putting on her shoes. 

“Alright, alright Mabs.” Dipper said laughing. He hadn’t really wanted to go out anyway and he had known Mabel would react lie that and used it to his advantage. “You two have fun, I’ll be here brewing.” 

Once Mabel had her shoes on Bill reached for her hand. He may have been ten but he never seemed to grow out of affection like that which neither she not Dipper minded. They walked out to the car and Bill got in the front seat which he’d only recently started being allowed to do when there wasn’t another adult in the car. 

Bill and Mabel drove to the pet store in town where they picked up a cage and a bag of food for mice. Bill looked at a couple toys and stuff while Mabel questioned the shop keeper about how to tell is a mouse was a boy or a girl. The last thing they needed was tons of baby mice running around so she wanted to be able to make sure that both of the mice Bill kept were the same gender.

By the end of the day the cage was set up in Bills room and the two little mice Bill had chosen were running around in it. A couple more were still in the basement incase something wrong showed itself with the first hamster and Bill had to try to make more. The hamster in question was in Mabels room so that she could keep a eye on it for abnormalities since she’d know better then Dipper what those might look like.

Bill went to bed with the warning that Bill and Mabel would be checking on him in a hour to make sure he wasn’t just watching his new pets for hours into the night. Under the threat of them being taken out of his room if he was still awake he promised he’d be asleep faster then ever! A promise which both Mabel and Dipper doubted but they went downstairs together to talk anyway.

Mabel sat at the table while Dipper made them tea because today Mabel had done the most with Bill, taking him to the store and teaching him how to look after his new pets. They loved Bill but he was tiring so by the end of the day the one of them that had done the most with him always needed to relax. Dipper smiled and hummed a little while he made the tea.

“Seems like you’re in a real good mood tonight bro-bro.” Mabel said smiling at Dipper. She wasn’t as tired as sometimes because Bill hadn’t been to hard today, she’d been teaching him something he wanted to know.

“Ya, for once I feel like this might not be a doomed experiment Mabs. I know I’m usually he pessimistic one but he said the reason he only took two tries was because he didn’t want to hurt the mice so he was extra careful. That doesn’t sound like something a demon would say does it? I think it’s working.” Dipper said making sure his voice didn’t raise as it sometimes did when he was excited, he didn’t want Bill to hear.

“That’s great Dipper!” Mabel agreed smiling, she hadn’t been there for that part. She had just thought it was because of his advanced magical talents but the fact that he equated it to caring was great. “Looks like all those Disney movies about the power of love are really paying off huh?” 

“Maaabs.” Dipper complained rolling his eyes at her joke but a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips nonetheless. He changed the subject. “So the party Bill’s going to this weekend is a sleepover, are you looking forward to some alone time with Paz?” his question was rewarded by a light blush spreading across Mabels cheeks.

“Yes I am.” She confirmed as he brought her tea over to her. Back when they were teenagers she might have asked him if he thought he’d ever get a partner of his own but now she’d stopped. He’d only thought he liked girls before puberty because he thought he was supposed to, he’d never actually developed any attraction to anyone. Or a desire for romance for that matter though he and Wendy still flirted sometimes it was all in the name of fun and none of it serious. 

There parents were furious that they wouldn’t have any grandchildren and now they had a adopted grandchild. Well they would have if Dipper and Mabel hadn’t decided their reactions to their children’s sexualities wasn’t entirely inappropriate. They didn’t really talk to their parents anymore, not that they’d been close to their parents even when they were kids, they’d always been pretty neglectful. 

“I’m looking forward to having the house to myself there’s some experiments I want to try.” Dipper said smiling at the way Mabels eyes instantly narrowed. 

“No raising the dead, blowing up the house, setting anything on fi-“

“I know the list of things I’m not allowed to do.” Dipper laughed holding up his hands. “Don’t worry Mabs the worst case scenario of these ones is you’ll have to drive Bill to school for a week or so cause I’m trying some appearance changing spells. I don’t wan Bill here because they’re quite wacky rituals and I don’t want you here so you can’t sneak in with a camera if I get changed into a woman or something.”

“Aww shame I’m going to miss that.” Mabel joked smiling fondly at Dipper because even though she would have done something like that when they were both kids those days are gone. Now she understands her brother isn’t stuck up about his dignity he’s just anxious about what people think and her taking a picture of him in any compromising situation would be more likely to result in a panic attack then hilarity. 

“No it’s not you’re going to have a lot more fun with Paz.” Dipper teases kicking Mabels leg playfully under the table. “Or from what I understand of sex you will.” Mabel laughed.

“Ewwww.” A high nasally voice said from the doorway making them both jump. Bill was standing there with his tongue sticking out of his mouth in a over dramatic expression of disgust. “I just wanted a glass of water and this is what I come down to?” He says in the way he has, like he’s trying to play for a studio audience. 

“Well that’s what you get for coming in without warning when we thought you were in bed.” Mabel said and it came out a little harsher then he meant it to. If Bill had come down just a few minutes early he could have heard something much more world shattering then mentions of his adopted guardian having sex. Bill looked hurt.

“Hey, hey she didn’t mean it you just sort of startled us like that is all.” Dipper said getting up to get Bill his glass of work quickly. 

“We need to put a bell on you I swear kid.” Mabel agreed putting a hand to chest trying to calm her racing heart.

“Oh sorry.” Bill said still frowning. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’ll call down next time.” Then he wrinkled his noes again. “After all I don’t want to walk in on a conversation like that again either.” 

“Good idea.” Mabel laughed. “If I ever suspect you’re eavesdropping a conversation I’ll start describing my sex life in vivid detail.” Bill made a distressed squeaking noise grabbed his glass of water from Dipper and fled out of the room and back up to his room.

Dipper watched him leave and then went back over to the table sitting down and cupping his face in his hands belatedly having a miner panic attack. “Jesus Five minutes earlier..”

“I know.” Mabel agreed biting her lip. “From now on we wait for a hour after he goes to bed to talk about anything he shouldn’t hear. Maybe we should but a boundary around his room so if he leaves it we’ll know?”

“He hasn’t noticed the wards on the rest of the house yet so maybe that’d be a good idea. I feel like he should have better magical senses.” Dipper said with a slight frown.

“Me too but maybe his own repressed power covers it.” Mabel suggested then shrugged. “There are tons of things we won’t be able to understand because we can’t treat him like a science project even though I know sometimes you want to.” 

“I know, you’re right. And those urges have faded as he’s become more and more our kid.” 

“I think he has a crush on this girl the hamster is for.” Mabel sighed rubbing her face. “He’s growing up so fast, I feel like we don’t have as much time as I thought we would, why is it going so fast?”

“Isn’t that what they say about kids?” Dipper said with a crocked smile. “They always grow up to fast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully it won't be like another year before I get the next chapter out huh. :P


End file.
